The Anomaly
by A Cullen Wannabe
Summary: Rebekah Gilbert fled Mystic Falls over a year ago when she learned the truth about her past.  Now she's back to protect her niece, if only Damon will allow her to do what she needs to do to accomplish her goal. Damon & an Original Character
1. Chapter 1

_**Author's Note: I'll start with the usual disclaimer. I do not own the rights to any characters of settings used in this fic. All rights to the characters of The Vampire Diaries belong to the author of the novels, L.J. Smith and the creators of The Vampire Diaries TV series, off which this story is based. No copyright infringement intended.**_

_**I spend most of my fun writing time working on Twilight fanfiction, but I was inspired a couple of weeks ago by an episode of The Vampire Diaries when Damon was in the bathtub confessing things to the reporter he's now using as a smoke screen. This is an M rated AU involving a new character that came from my own noggin…the lost Gilbert sister, Rebekah, same age as Jenna, but with a much more sinister secret. I hope you enjoy it. Again, I based this on the TV Series mythology, which I do seem to like more than the book series, which I began reading recently. I already have a few chapters done, but updates may be sporadic as this is just my side fun work to take breaks from writing my second novel. At any rate, I hope you enjoy!**_

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Chapter 1

As I walked down the street toward the doors that led to the familiar hometown hangout that I hadn't set eyes on in several years, I smiled, unable to resist chuckling at the welcome that probably awaited me. I never fit in with Mystic Falls. I was always the black sheep of the Gilbert family, never buying into all the founders hoopla. Just because our great, great, great grandparents helped start the town, didn't make us some kind of royalty. That was just a bunch of pretentious baloney.

The fact that I found it pretentious baloney and refused to waltz around like I owned the place didn't earn me any points with my Dad and brothers, who hated me anyway just on principle, but that's a story for another day. According to them, I had a responsibility to uphold the history of the great Gilbert family, blah, blah, blah, yadda, yadda, yadda. It was all about appearances. I hated it…all of it...well with the exception of my sister-in-law, Miranda, my niece and nephew, and Miranda's sister and my BFF Jenna Sommers. I loved the crap out of them, but I needed a life away from Mystic Falls, so when College called, I answered and stayed gone.

I should have stayed and helped with Elena and Jeremy when Grayson and Miranda died instead of leaving it all on Jenna, but it wasn't possible. Jenna would have been much better at that than me anyway. I was never the mommy type…I was a free spirit…always had been, always will be. I know it probably burned her up that I didn't stick and take responsiblity like she did, but I would have only been another burden, especially with all of the freshly discovered secrets I was hiding. No, those kids had enough to worry about without dealing with me…until now.

I pushed through the door of the Mystic Grill, catching a glimpse of my reflection in the glass. I hadn't changed much since I left Mystic Falls for school. I still had the long straight, strawberry blonde hair, blue eyes, and fit body I had in my cheerleading days. My skin was pale as ever, looking even more so in my all black outfit, but I didn't care…I never really did. I sauntered in to find the same hang out I had spent countless hours in with Jenna a decade ago. We were so much younger than our siblings, and we were the wild children of our families. We had some really great times in this place. I couldn't help but hope that we would again.

Scanning the room for any familiar faces in the quiet weekend afternoon crowd, I made my way to the bar, leaning against it and asking the cute kid behind the counter for a soda and wedge fries. I really missed the wedge fries here. Blondie, who looks just about Elena's age and I thought might be Elena's boyfriend I had met at the funeral, slid my order in front of me just as a voice I wasn't expecting to hear echoed from behind me.

"Rebekah Gilbert, what the hell are you doing back in town?"

I spun on my stool with a smile, hearing the playful tone in the voice. I hoped that maybe, just maybe this wouldn't go as badly as I feared.

"Jenna Sommers…I thought I'd deprived Mystic Falls of my presence quite long enough, so here I am." I held my hands up to showcase the strained smile on my face.

A shadow clouded her face for a second as her brow crinkled slightly. "For how long?"

I sighed as I took a long drink of the cola in my hand, the ice clinking loudly against the glass. "Well, since I just accepted a job at the high school teaching English, I would hope it would be for a while."

To my great relief, the shadow disappeared as she flew the couple of feet that separated us and wrapped her arms tightly around my neck. "A little over a year too late, but you were never one for punctuality. Welcome home! The kids are going to be so happy to see you. You left after the funeral without even saying goodbye."

I swallowed hard and fought back the tears that threatened to leak out. Leaving them without even saying goodbye was one of the hardest things I ever had to do, but it was necessary to keep them safe…to keep all of them safe. My demons were sneaking up on me, and I didn't want them to find me anywhere near my family. No…I took the coward's way out and didn't even look back their way until I knew the coast was clear. That day never came and now I was back with a far more important task.

Jenna and I enjoyed some great catch up conversation, half of mine fabricated by necessity to make my life since leaving Mystic Falls far more normal than it had been. About ten minutes in, a handsome guy in his mid thirties came in, kissing Jenna before taking the stool on the other side of her. That girl always got the most attractive guys, but for once, this one didn't seem like a douche under the attractive exterior. He had an odd name though, so I was grateful I was told to call him Rick, just as I informed him that I went by Bekah. Best part of all, he's a Robert E Lee High teacher too, so I already have a friend at work. Score one for Bek!

We had just finished up our food, and I was about to leave to go begin the tedious task of unpacking my meager belongings into the shoebox I rented across town when the doors opened again, bringing with it a chill that made my hair stand on end. An internal string of curse words railed inside my head as I turned around to see my niece and her friends walk in, her hand twined quite intimately with a very handsome and very undead vampire. What. The? Oh Hell!

My eyes scanned the small group, bugging further when I realize that not only is the boy with my niece a vamp, but so is the tall handsome one next to him, and CAROLINE! Caroline? How the hell did that happen and how in the hell did my niece get mixed up in all of this insanity? I left to save them from a life fraught with mythical beings, and here they are surrounded by them! Talk about feeling defeated.

Elena's eyes bugged when she saw me before a huge smile spread across her face and she dropped lover boy's hand to run across the room to me and wrap me in a tight hug. "Aunt Bekah, what are you doing here? When did you get in?"

I smiled and hugged her back a moment before opening my eyes to see the two guys staring at me with matching cocked heads and confused expressions. The hotter one with the blue eyes' brows were so furrowed, it looked like you could plant seeds in the folds. While lover boy just looked curious, hot guy seemed suspicious. It should be expected I guess; things that stand out in the normal world tend to recognize one another, even if they can't riddle out what the other is exactly. Boy was he going to be shocked when he discovered the truth about me. To say my existence was an anomaly would be a major understatement…trust me…I'd spent the last year trying to find someone to help, only to come up with more than I bargained for.

"Well, I hit town about an hour ago and stopped in here first for some lunch and to see if I saw anybody I know. As for the other question, I'm moving back here, kid. Matter of fact, I'm starting at my old alma mater as the new English teacher replacing Ms. Maclin on Monday."

A shadow crossed over her face before the twinkle returned to her eyes and she hugged me even harder. "Well, I'm glad you're back. I want to spend a ton of time catching up once you're settled."

She took my hand and dragged me over to the group. "I want you to meet everyone. I'm pretty sure you remember Bonnie and Caroline." I nodded and smiled, mumbling a nice to see you again, although I couldn't help but stare a little longer at Caroline. She seemed to be fine standing around with all these humans…so unlike most of the vamps I'd met…plus they were all walking around in the daylight and I'd only met a few who could do that…ones I didn't care to ever meet again.

Elena's smile got brighter as she brought me over to stand in front of lover boy. "And this is my boyfriend, Stefan Salvatore. Stefan, this is my other aunt, Rebekah Gilbert."

Salvatore…I should have known. Hell, I should have recognized them from the countless pictures I'd seen at Founder's Day events. The other one, which I now pieced together was Damon, grumbled something about 'another Gilbert' under his breath as Stefan shot him a warning look before smiling and stepping forward with an extended hand.

"It's an honor to meet you, Miss Gilbert. Elena's told me a lot about you."

I couldn't help but smile back. The kid…well, shoot, he was over a hundred years older than me, so really not a kid…anyway, the boy had mad etiquette and genuine eyes. For the first time since they walked in, I really did relax.

"It's nice to meet you too Stefan. I hope to get a chance to get to know you better."

He chuckled and nodded. "I should say so; I'm in your fourth period Lit class."

I lifted my eyebrows in surprise, wondering why in the heck would a nearly hundred and sixty year old being ever choose to go to high school when they didn't have to, and then his eyes cut to my niece and I knew. Boy had it baaad.

I chuckled and nodded my head slowly. "Good to know I'll have at least one student who knows the difference between Tolstoy and Tolkein. I guess I'll be seeing you Monday then."

"Looking forward to it," he replied with a nod. Damn it all to hell, but I really did like the guy. I'd all but forgotten the other brother though until Elena motioned to him from where she now stood, tucked into Stefan's side.

I turned to face the tall man with a lickable square jaw, icy blue eyes observing me stoically under a heavy brow as Elena finally extended the introduction.

"And this is Stefan's older brother Damon. Damon this is my favorite aunt, so be nice."

I chuckled and glanced over my shoulder when Jenna shouted from the bar, "Hey! I resent that!" It was all in good fun though. Jenna knew she would always be closer to Elena and Jeremy than I ever would.

I turned back toward the other brother only to jump slightly when I found myself staring right at his chest, his body uncomfortably close to mine. He cocked an eyebrow with a smirk at my reaction before leaning down to whisper in my ear.

"I know that smell…you and I need to have a little talk later." I tensed as he kissed my cheek before leaning back with a full on cocky grin. "Nice to meet you, Aunt that I've never heard a word about before. Not running for Aunt of the year after all are you?"

I sucked my teeth as I stared up at him through my lashes before lifting one corner of my mouth and reaching forward to brush some lint off his shoulder. "Guess it's better than being the tag along brother. Last I checked once you graduate high school you're supposed to go find friends your own age to hang out with."

The mask slipped as his eyes flashed, but it wasn't anger that was peeking out at me, but rather amusement. His smile grew a little wider as he swiveled his shoulders before leaning against the wall behind him like an undead James Dean. "I do just fine, sweetheart, don't you worry," his eyes moved down my body before they come back to my face, his irises darkening slightly. "…but if you get a little lonely, I can always add you to my black book. You look like you could use a little fun."

I couldn't help but snort out a little laugh, crossing my arms over my chest and popping out my hip. "That's okay, Casanova. I do just fine on my own, so no need to join whatever little harem you might have amassed since moving to town."

I was so lost in my little tete a tete with Mr. Tall Hot and Cocky, that I almost forgot we had an audience until Bonnie and Caroline started to giggle. I glanced over at them with a little frown as they looked at me and giggled again.

"Oh my God, Elena! It's like there's two of them now!"

I looked over at Elena and Stefan who are trying to hide their own chuckles behind their hands before looking back at an equally confused Damon. He looked at me then back at them before rolling his eyes.

"If you _children_ are done, I think I'm going to go have a stiff drink." He brushed my arm as he passed me and I stiffened again at the sensation. The warmth of his body radiated right into me, stealing my breath.

I shook my head to clear it before turning back to the snickering group before me. My frown turned into a smile before I found myself rolling my eyes and moving to stand in front of Elena again.

"Well, my apartment isn't going to unpack itself, so I better go. I gave Jenna the address and phone number, so just get them from her and drop by or call anytime, okay?"

I reached over to hug Elena when I heard Damon's voice echoing behind me. "Does that invitation apply to all of us?"

I tensed and turned quickly blurting out a no, which made everyone stare in surprise, including Damon who tossed back the amber liquid in his glass while glaring at me through narrowed eyes. I raised my eyebrows and nodded fractionally before turning back to Elena.

"We need to talk and soon. Please call me."

She blinked owlishly at me a few times before nodding. I turned back to Stefan with a smile, and said goodbye before doing the same with Bonnie and Caroline and then quickly retreating from the Grill to jog the few blocks back to my apartment and lock myself hopefully safely within, along with a few sprigs of Vervain.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Author's Note: Because I'm sitting on five chapters and have an impulse control problem. I will hold on to release the rest of these slowly, but I'm going ahead and giving you chapter 2 tonight…**_

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Chapter 2

I hadn't been home for more than five minutes when the first knock came at the door. I didn't have to look to know who it was.

"I said you weren't invited, Damon. Now go away!"

His voice dripped with arrogance as he replied and I could almost see the cocky look on his face as though the wooden door didn't separate us. "I told you we needed to have a little talk and I'm not leaving until we have it."

I sighed, moving to open a box by the front door, pulling out a stake, a bottle filled with vervain shoots, and a gun loaded with wooden bullets. I'd learned my lessons well and I always came prepared now. I never faced a vampire unprotected if I could help it. I slid the stake up the sleeve of my sweater and slid one thin vervain shoot into the pocket of my jeans before tucking the gun into my waistband at the small of my back. Adjusting my clothes to make sure I wasn't too obvious, I finally opened the door and leaned against it, knowing that the thin wooden sheath was never what had been holding Damon at bay and just made us speak louder to be heard through it. If I wanted to keep this conversation quiet, it needed to be open and the natural boundary of his lack of invitation would provide sufficient protection.

"There's not much to talk about, Damon. What do you want?"

He narrowed his eyes and flexed his jaw. "I want to know what you're doing here and how long you intend to stay."

I rolled my eyes and sighed. "I meant what I said in the bar. I'm here for good. What I'd really like to know is why half of the vampire race has converged around my niece? I left town to protect my family from all of this and now it seems like they are the engulfed in it."

"So you run like a coward and then wonder why things are the way they are? Maybe if you'd stayed and protected Elena like we're doing, we wouldn't be needed. Did you ever think of that? I wouldn't be stuck here playing knight if you'd stuck around and done your job."

I felt my anger growing as I stood straight and faced off toe to toe with the asshole vamp, only the thin air of the threshold space between us. "Listen here. I only just learned about myself the day of Grayson and Miranda's funeral. I didn't understand any of this and I thought I would be more dangerous than good. How was I supposed to know Elena was the key to all of this and under the gun of some major badass Originals? Heck, I didn't even know what an Original was until a few months ago, so get off my back. I thought I was doing the right thing by staying away."

He rolled his eyes and scoffed, folding his arms in front of him. "Well obviously that little plan failed. So what are you going to do now? Ride in on a white horse and play protector? You're a little late, sister."

My eyes narrowed and my body tensed before I sneered up at him. "You know what. I don't have to listen to this. You've gotten your answers, so leave because I'm going to close this door and get to work and I'm not letting you in so you're wasting your time."

He snarled at me before informing me that we weren't finished and turning to stalk off down the hallway. I closed the door and leaned against it, breathing heavily with my eyes closed. He was a dick, but he was right on so many counts. If I could do things differently, I would have. I'd probably have been better off staying ignorant as well, but when you find out that your father isn't really your father and your conception wasn't exactly consensual, or mortal, you tend to think that finding answers is important. Unfortunately, answers don't always bring peace.

I had only just stared unpacking another box when the loud knocking at the door pulled me up again. I stalked to the door and threw it open. "What do you want now…?" The eyes staring back at me weren't the icy blue ones I expected, but rather large brown ones, widened in surprise.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you were Damon again. Come on in."

Elena entered, but Stefan paused at the doorway. I smiled, wondering if I was making the right choice, but something told me I was, especially after my conversation with Damon that intimated that he and Stefan were acting as protectors of my beloved niece. "You too, Stefan. I think I'll trust my instincts on this one."

He smiled and nodded deeply. Without words, I understood his sentiment. They moved into the apartment, taking in the small space filled with boxes before turning back to me.

"So you said Damon was here?" Elena asked, fingering the edge of a blanket I had just draped over my crappy futon. "What did he want?"

I rolled my eyes and crossed the room to put down the vase I had just unearthed on some shelves built into the wall next to the kitchen doorway.

"He was just checking me out and asking me why I haven't been around. Nothing big. I told him to buzz off because he wasn't getting in and he said he'd be back. That's why I thought you might be him."

Elena picked up a dusty candle that had been in storage for the past year while I was trekking through Eastern Europe. She appraised it absentmindedly as she let loose a quiet, "Hmmm, that's odd. Where did you get this candle Aunt Bekah?"

I glanced up again before moving to pick up the glass receptacle with the light green wax candle melted within. It had never even been lit. I sniffed it, noting it still smelled like lychee. I smiled sadly, dusting it with my fingers before placing it on the shelves next to the vase.

"Your Mom got it for me for my last birthday before the accident."

Elena returned my sad smile. "I thought so…I remember helping her pick it out."

The room fell quiet as we all stared at the small rectangular reminder of a woman we had both adored before I finally looked back at Elena.

"How are you doing, Elena? Honestly?"

She sighed, moving to lean beside me against the back of the futon. "I still miss them, but there's been so much that has happened. It's been confusing. My life has changed so much since they passed away, I feel like a completely different person. Did anyone tell you that I found out about being adopted?"

I snapped my eyes closed, feeling in the core of my chest as if I were falling, my breathing fighting to continue as the pain took over. Poor kid…too much had happened in too short of a time.

"They were going to tell you eventually; when they felt you were old enough to be ready. It's not exactly an easy conversation."

She turned to me with deadly serious eyes. "Did YOU know John is my biological father?"

I nibbled my lower lip and shook my head slowly. "I do know now, but I only learned that fact recently. When you were born, we didn't know anything about you except that your mother was a teenage girl named Isobel from a neighboring town."

Elena turned to me with a curious expression. "How did you find out recently when you haven't been around? Did you see John?"

I snorted, shaking my head as I pushed off the couch to go pick up another box from the floor looking for a diversion. I wasn't ready to share the entire story with Elena just yet. I would and soon, but I wanted a chance to settle in and get a little closer to her first. Considering her current companions, she was probably going to take it much better than I had originally anticipated, but it will still be another shock when I tell her.

"I haven't seen my _brother_ since the funeral either. No, it was something I picked up in the pipeline."

Elena looked confused, but to my great relief, Stefan distracted her with an appointment they needed to get to. With a big hug, I bid them goodbye with open invitations for them to visit again.

When they left I leaned against the door, heels of my palms pressed into my eyes. A situation which was complicated to begin with seemed to be getting more and more complicated by the day. I was still leaning against the door when another knock landed without warning right behind my heart, making it flutter with adrenaline in response to the surprise. I should have felt him coming, but I had been too distracted. I really needed to get my act together!

"You have far too many secrets for any one person. Trust me when I tell you that they always come back to haunt you, usually sooner rather than later. Don't let her find out from someone else."

I spun and opened the door to see concerned blue eyes gazing down at me, no sign of arrogance to be seen in his plea. My mouth dropped and my heart went out to him in that moment which caught me off guard.

"Oh my…You love her, don't you?"

His face hardened, the muscles in his jaw flexing, but the truth of my words echoed in the vulnerable softness in his eyes. "That doesn't really matter. Just don't be someone else who hurts her or you'll have to deal with me."

I smirked up at him. "Seems I'm having to 'deal' with you anyway, but I see your point. I'm going to try to talk to her soon."

He nodded seriously. "Good idea."

When he turned to leave, I stepped into the hall past the threshold. "Hey, Damon?"

He turned back to me, eyebrows raised.

"Thanks for looking out for her. Knowing she's with Stefan has to be hard, but you're sticking around anyway to keep her safe. I appreciate that."

He nodded before disappearing down the hall and through the door at the end. I watched his black leather jacket disappear into the stairwell before turning back to enter my apartment, losing all ambition to unpack. I nibbled on a quick snack before doing my nightly routine and crawling onto my unfolded futon bed.

I lay there staring at my ceiling for a long time, mostly thinking about a face with sharp cheekbones, pained blue eyes, and honest words of warning from the least expected source.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

I spent my entire Sunday working to unpack and organize the few belongings I had. Having spent the better part of the last decade as a student, I had still lived the student lifestyle up until a year ago when I turned into a vagabond. School was paid for by the Gilbert money, but I didn't feel the need to blow the family fortune for me to live high on the hog when I was perfectly happy living the college experience like my roommates and eating my fair share of Ramen noodles.

In the meantime, I had invested the rest of the family money and let it grow, thinking someday I'd give it to Elena and Jeremy to help them out if they needed it. College was already ungodly expensive, and it was only going to get worse by the time they made it to school…and even worse if they made it into an Ivy League school. One way or another, it was definitely going to be better spent than to fund a luxury lifestyle for me while doing the college thing.

I also managed to make it up to the school to familiarize myself with the classroom and get myself organized for my first class. Being in front of a class wasn't new and I had been certified for some time, but since I had chosen instead to pursue graduate work instead of jumping into the public school systems, most of my time had been spent TAing freshman level lit courses instead of high school. I didn't want to disrupt the room, feeling it would be a sign of disrespect to the memory of the deceased Ms. Maclin. She had just started a year or two before I graduated and had been my Senior year English Lit teacher. She was nice and pretty good at her job. Instead, I just made sure I knew where things I needed were and had my lessons ready to go for my first day.

Other than a call from Jenna and one from Elena, I wasn't disturbed all day. That would have been great if not for the disconcerting sense of disappointment as I kept checking around me all day for any signs of Damon. He intrigued me and I wanted to have another chance to try to figure him out.

Monday morning I dressed in my teacher garb and got to school extra early, wanting to spend a little extra time preparing. I was pleased to find Rick sitting on his car outside school, handing over a steaming cup of gourmet coffee.

"Happy first day of work, Miss Gilbert. You think you're ready?"

I chuckled, lifting my cup in a sign of thanks as I took it and pulled a long swig of dark deliciousness. "I've been teaching college freshmen for the past few years, so I'm guessing I'm probably as ready as I'll ever be."

Rick chortled, "You'll be fine with the Seniors and Juniors, but I have a feeling the Freshmen and maybe Sophomores will be a little bit of a shock, but you'll survive."

I sighed and took another long drink of my liquid courage. "I hope you're right."

The morning was a blur of new faces and frustration. Rick's comments about the Freshmen had been a major understatement, as illustrated by my two additional trips to the teacher's lounge between classes to fill refill my cup with stale coffee just to see me through. By the time my fourth class of the day entered, I had never been more happy to see sixteen and seventeen year olds in all my life…oh and one one hundred and sixty year old as well. It was the beginning of an upward curve in the course of my day, as I fell easily into a rhythm more like what I was accustomed.

The last bell of the day found me exhausted and itching to go home and crash. As I began gathering up my papers, I felt a presence behind me. I jumped and turned to find Stefan Salvatore standing in the doorway, hands in his pockets as he smiled sheepishly in my direction.

"Sorry to startle you. I just wanted to drop in and see how your first day went."

I smiled and nodded, gesturing for him to make himself comfortable as I assembled the rest of the huge mound of papers I had to grade once I got home, changed into sweats, and poured myself a nice glass of merlot. "It was a rough morning, but from your class on wasn't so bad."

Stefan chuckled, moving his finger across a grove someone had etched into the top of the desk in which he sat. "Yeah, Ms. M said we were the beginning of the end of her day. She hated the morning classes too. Um, you know what happened to her, right?"

I shot him a solemn look that told him all he needed to know. "It was Elijah, wasn't it?"

His eyes dashed up to mine in surprise. I ran my tongue across my teeth as I sucked on them before releasing a long sigh. "Do you and Elena have plans tonight?" When he shook his head no, I glanced from my bag to him again. "Do you think you could come by later this evening? We need to talk."

He frowned but nodded slowly. "Okay…do you want to give me a hint to what this is all about?"

I cleared my throat before picking up my bag and tossing it on my shoulder. "Let's just say that there's more to me than meets the eye. Damon noticed it right away, and I'm sure you sense it too. Long story short, our stories are closer aligned than you ever thought."

I started to walk away before pausing to glance behind me. "Oh, and you might as well bring Damon along and answer all your questions in one session. This isn't a story I like having to repeat."

Stefan walked me to the parking lot before going back to find Elena at her committee meeting. Our walk was quiet, but not that uncomfortable considering how I broached the entire situation. I started the car and drove home in peace only to find Damon Salvatore leaning on the wall next to the door to my building. At the sight of him standing there, my heart picked up its pace, a chill of excitement running up my spine.

I acted casual as I exited the car and hauled out my bag tossing it on my shoulder and walking toward the door where he stood. He was smirking at me as I approached, which made me wonder if he had sensed my excitement. I was mentally berating my autonomic nervous system as I reached him, leaving a cool mask on my features, but unable to alter my speeding heart.

"And what do I owe this honor?" I stated coolly.

"Just thought I'd see if you found your spine yet and told Elena about you."

I sighed, shifting the heavy bag from one shoulder to the other to free a hand to use my key in the door. With a sigh, Damon stepped over and took the bag from my shoulder before gesturing toward the door. I opened it and walked into the stairwell that led to my floor. Damon followed me all the way to my door and waited for me to open it before handing me back my bag as I marveled at how surprisingly gentlemanly his actions suddenly were.

I set the bag just inside the door before turning back to see him waiting at the threshold. With a roll of my eyes, I gestured into the room. "I've already told Stefan to extend an invitation to you for this evening, so you might as well come in now. Just know I'm armed and I know how to use them against a vamp."

Damon snorted before walking in with an amused grin stretched across his very pink lips. He casually took in the room as I moved around to put things away before turning back to him.

"I invited them over to tell them tonight and told Stefan to bring you along so I'd only have to retell the story once, so don't worry; she's going to hear it from the horse's mouth tonight."

He gestured his understanding before walking to flop on my futon, grimacing at the bumpy surface. He grimaced in my direction, his voice again laced with his usual tenor of sarcasm and snark. "Wait a minute. I thought you were a Gilbert…so why live in a dump with garage sale furniture."

I paused for a moment, unsure how to answer his question. "You'll understand better after tonight, but let's just say I never really fit into the Gilbert way of life. When our father died, I used my inheritance to pay for school and put the rest into investments to let the money grow. I don't need fancy things to survive. If you pardon the cliché, I eat to live, not live to eat, and the same principle goes to material things as well. I make due with what I need and nothing more."

He cast a disbelieving look my direction before picking up the photo album off the coffee table and flipping through the freeze frame images, stopping on several pages to examine the photographs more closely.

"You and Jenna were close." It wasn't a question.

I moved to place my bag next to him on the couch so I could get settled in to grade papers, pausing to look down at the picture of the two of us at prom. "Yeah…we were practically sisters."

He glanced at another image of Jenna and I playing with Elena when she wasn't more than four or five years old, right before we graduated. "And you were both close to Elena too."

I smiled down at the image of her laughing as we pushed her in the swing her back yard. "Yeah, we watched her all the time when she was little. She felt like a lot more than just a niece, and it didn't matter to us in the slightest that she was adopted. We had no clue that John was her father…not until recently, at least. Listen, I need to go get comfortable…"

When Damon turned to me and raised an eyebrow I rolled my eyes and smacked the back of his head, making him chuckle. "Not like that, you perv. I'm going to get out of these dress clothes and heels and into some sweats before I have to spend the next several hours grading papers. I don't want to be rude, but any chance you could clear out until the meeting this evening? This is going to take me hours without a distraction, much less with."

The mischievous and cocky eyebrow shot up again, a smirk playing on his lips. "So I AM a distraction, huh? Good to know."

I snorted and shook my head. "Yeah, you wish, now get the heck out of here before I have to break out the vervain."

He stood up and with a cocky swagger moved to stand in front of me, his blue eyes boring down into mine, making my heart skip again, which caused his smirk to widen. "Apparently I don't have to wish. Oh, and Stefan and I have been dosing ourselves with vervain to grow a tolerance. It barely affects us anymore."

My eyes widened in surprise at the news before widening further as he leaned in, running his nose softly across my cheek till her reached my ear, making me shiver as he whispered. "And I wasn't joking at the Grill about spending more time together, if you need a…_distraction."_

I swallowed hard and made my head shake back and forth, but it took immense effort as my hormones were beginning to speak a different story. Damon just chuckled before backing away and turning toward the door, waving over his shoulder without looking back.

"I'll be back at nine. See you then, Hot Aunt."

He walked out the door and I took in a deep breath before shaking my head vigorously in an attempt to clear the fog. This was dangerous territory into which I did not want to tread. My life was complicated enough without adding some kind of casual affair with a pompous vampire to the mix, but I had to admit, his offer definitely held a certain appeal.

I moved to the bedroom, taking a quick cold shower before sliding into a navy blue velour track suit. I grabbed a sandwich and my self-promised glass of merlot and settled in on the couch. I fought hard to stay focused on the papers before me, knowing I had to dredge through them before morning, but even if he wasn't sitting in my living room, I was still finding myself driven to distraction by Damon Salvatore. This was no good….no good at all.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's note: Thank Impulse control and my desire not to keep you hanging…this chapter answers all of the 'what is she' questions. :) Thank you for the reviews and hope you enjoy. Also thanks to my prereaders MissSherrie and Elohcin**

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Chapter 4

At nine on the dot, there was a knock at the door. I opened it to find Damon leaning against the jamb, arms crossed and that cocky smile on his face. It annoyed me how it both made me want to slap it off his face or kiss it off, and I still hadn't sorted out which I wanted to do more.

"Hi, Damon, make yourself at home."

He pushed off the doorframe and sauntered into the apartment, plopping back down on the couch in the same place he had been earlier that evening. Stretching out, he laid his arm on the back of the couch and smirked over his shoulder at me.

"Aren't you going to play the hostess and at least offer a beverage or something. I smell alcohol, so I'm assuming you have something around here worth swilling."

I scoffed, moving to the kitchen to pull out two glasses and the bottle of merlot I had uncorked earlier that evening. He gave me a look that held every drop of sarcastic mockery possible at my choice of alcoholic beverage before shrugging and pouring two glasses. He handed one to me as I stood across from where he sat before lifting his cup to his lips and downing the drink immediately. I tried not to watch the seductive way that his throat flexed as he guzzled and failed. Thankfully, a knock at the door saved me as I dashed over to greet Elena and Stefan.

After they turned down my offer to get them something to drink as well, Elena and Stefan settled on the couch together, my niece settled between the two vampires who loved her. I swear if this was a movie I was watching, I would laugh at the ridiculousness of it all, and yet, this was my life. Elena and Stefan watched me curiously as I moved to sit cross legged on the floor against the wall across from them, guzzling what was left in my glass before trying to begin. After a few fumbled words, Damon moved closer and filled my cup again with a knowing smile and wink. I guzzled the second glass, thankful for the fuzzing warmth that took the edge off before clearing my throat and beginning my tale, unsure how my poor niece was going to take it.

"I'm not really sure where to start with all of this. It's a very complicated story. I…um…I guess I should start with Grayson and Miranda's funeral, since that is where it all really started for me. I had picked up on things in the past and a few more things had come to light right before that time, but it wasn't until I discovered something in Grayson's papers while looking for a deed for Jenna that I knew the real truth behind the lie I once believed was my life."

Elena frowned, but there was an understanding in her eyes and I realized that what I was about to share was more akin to what she had recently gone through learning about her true parentage than I had originally considered.

"In with the papers was a bundle of documents labeled Rebekah Grace Gilbert, and among my birth certificate and various other official records there were numerous lab test results and notes on dozens of papers that indicated that the results showed that while my mother was Victoria Gilbert, my father was not William Gilbert. I never really knew my mother as she died giving birth to me, but I knew enough of her life with my father to know that she didn't have an affair. I was disturbed and confounded, searching further and further into the notes, I found mentions of blood irregularities and the such before things started getting really surreal. The script moved from my father's handwriting to Grayson's and John's and at that point, there began being frequent mentions of vampires and the Incubus myth, and even a single name, Elijah."

Elena's eyes shimmered with unshed tears as she watched me while the boys stiffened in their seats and observed me with confused eyes.

"That same day, a registered letter came to me from Romania. It was an invitation mixed with a not so veiled warning. I left that next day for the safety of everyone here and to find out what the truth really was about me and this odd parentage situation."

I sighed, handing my glass to Damon who utilized his vampire speed to have it back in my hand within seconds. I guzzled my third glass in ten minutes before setting the glass down and gripping my knees to my chest. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, resting my forehead on my knees.

"If I had known the world I was stepping into, I would have run to the opposite end of the earth…not that it would have done any good as their reach is everywhere. There I discovered the Originals waiting for me in a small castle that gave way to a large underground labyrinth of corridors. There five Originals live and manipulate the world from their subterranean palace. It was like the stuff out of my worst nightmares, but that was nothing compared to the truths I learned about myself."

I lifted my head to face Elena, tears streaking my face and dripping onto my knees as I rested my chin there. "Grayson and John were right in their Incubus theories. Elijah came to my mother thirty years ago, compelling her to lie with him so that she would give birth to me."

"That's not possible," Damon growled, frowning down at me in confusion. "Vampires don't reproduce."

I scoffed, "Yeah, they don't walk in the daylight, do die with stakes to the heart, and stay dead when you finally are able to kill them, but those rules don't always apply to Originals, as apparently, the procreation rules do not either."

"But why?" Damon asked, looking completely befuddled.

"From what I gathered before I escaped and came here to try to divert Elena's fate at the hands of Klaus, Elijah had a theory that there was more than one way to end the curse. I was his experiment on an alternative sacrifice to the doppelganger since one had not been born in many centuries and Klaus was becoming impatient."

"But how? Only Petrova blood can break the curse…Petrova blood found in the doppelganger." Elena whispered quietly, trying to process my declarations.

I sighed and moved to grab my glass, which had at some point mysteriously refilled itself…thank you Damon.

"It's all about the bloodlines and the existence of the impossible. Mythical anomalies have an ability to disrupt the natural flow of power in the universe, combine that with the right blood mixture and you have a potential alternative to the doppelganger option. The sacrifice cannot be done until you, Elena, are the exact age of the first sacrifice in order to offset the spell. You have another year if what I discovered is correct. Everything that has happened to this point has more or less been to herd you into the position Klaus wanted you. With the same token, and I'm not sure how they know this, thirty is my magic number when I'm supposed to be able to render the curse void. Klaus would rather use me as a last resort though, since I not only free the vampires from the curse of the sun, but also the werewolves from the curse of the moon. He would much rather keep them slaves of the moon so they are easier to take out when they are weakened between zeniths, but he prefers the option of my sacrifice to being trapped in the dark unless wearing a daywalker ring. I was created as the backup plan."

By this time, I was sobbing. Elena dropped to sit next to me, wrapping her arm around my shoulder and running a hand down my hair. It was the first time anyone had soothed me in years. I never had a mother to soothe me. The closest thing I ever had to a mother was Miranda and Jenna's mom, Beth, who treated me like one of her own daughters, and the nanny who had raised me until the age of ten and then suddenly disappeared. In all my life, they were the only ones to ever comfort me until that moment. I broke down even further as Elena attempted to comfort me.

After what seemed like an eternity, I finally regained control, wiping at my eyes with my sleeve before rasping a little more through my sob wearied voice.

"My creation and existence killed my mother so I could be born some weird monster to fulfill someone else's purpose. That was why my _father and brothers_ hated me. I just thought it was resentment that my birth killed our mother, but it was more than that. It was a hate for all I was and all I stood for, and I really can't blame them. If roles had been reversed, I probably would have felt the exact same way."

The room was quiet. What could they say? It wasn't like they could deny it…any of it. I was created like Frankenstein's monster, and from that point on, I cursed and hurt those around me by my mere existence. If it weren't for the belief that I could possibly save Elena, I would never have come back to curse them all with my presence.

I hadn't even realized I'd been talking out loud until I realized Elena was crying beside me, asking me never to say that again and it wasn't my fault. She kept telling me that none of it was my fault, and that the choices that caused all the pain were not my own. I was an innocent victim in Elijah and Klaus's great scheme, but no amount of excuses would change the reality of who and what I was.

It wasn't until a voice came from the other side of me before I even felt the physical presence that I looked up to meet anyone's eyes. The blue of his irises were so bright they entranced me immediately.

"No. You listen to us. Of all the people on this planet, the three of us would be able to recognize the truth here. I don't bullshit; you've already figured that out, so you know I'm telling you the truth when I say that you are not at fault. You understand? You are not at fault any more than Elena is at fault for being born the doppelganger. Stefan and I, we made decisions to be what we are. We took human blood to sustain our transition, and we chose to kill after our change to further sustain that life. Your being born was not a choice, and thus it makes you innocent."

He paused and just stared at me with soft, but serious eyes. "Nod if you understand me."

I blinked slowly before lifting and lowering my head just enough to respond. He smiled sadly at me before reaching out to run a hand down my hair to my shoulder where he ran a couple of soothing circles over my shoulder blade. "Good, now don't let yourself believe that ever again. Can I ask you something though?"

I gave another small nod in response.

"How is it that you break both curses when Elena only breaks one?"

I huffed out a breath and shook my head. "Stupid founding family royalty crap has had the families of Mystic Falls blending several times over the last hundred or so years. In the papers was also my mother's family tree. Apparently, her grandmother was a Lockwood and her great, great grandfather was a Flemming. While it's not as strong as it is in Elena, some of the Petrova blood is in me as well as the Werewolf curse. Like I said, I'm an impossibility that has the ability to negate it all."

"How?"

I turned to him with serious eyes.

"How do you think?"

The silence in the room was deafening for a split second before all hell broke loose.


	5. Chapter 5

_**Author's Note: Hey guys. Some of you were confused what the commotion was about at the end of the last chapter. This should clear it up, but if you're still confused or don't follow the show and need some background info, then review/pm me and I'll try to help sort it for you :) Thanks for the reviews…they've been awesome.**_

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**Chapter 5**

It was well after midnight before Elena and Stefan finally felt comfortable leaving me. The fallout from my announcement was not what I had intended. Immediately all three began shouting things about how nobody was going to die with Damon making a particularly sarcastic comment about the Gilbert women's predilection to martyrdom. That then dissolved into another round regarding Elena's own willingness to give up everything for her loved ones. It made me want to punch her and hug her all at the same time. Elena always did have a heart of gold.

I could barely keep my eyelids open by the time they finally walked out, leaving only Damon behind, but only after he promised not to stay much longer. I wasn't sure why he was staying, but I didn't fight it. Once we were alone, he stared down at me with an intense gaze that made my insides turn to mush.

"There were a lot of details that you didn't share that I'm curious about. I thought we could do supper after you get out of work tomorrow and talk."

I squinted up at him in my tired haze, trying to digest what he was saying. "You want to take me out to dinner?"

His expression morphed, his eyes widening in an expression I was beginning to recognize he used when he was going to say something sarcastic to misdirect the question. "You do have to eat, don't you? I haven't heard of any teens going missing, so I'm guessing you don't partake of the human variety, and I didn't notice any animal carcasses around your place, nor blood bank bags in your fridge, so I assume you're not a blood drinking half breed. I figured you probably need something more substantial than processed meat byproducts and fermented grapes to sustain you."

I frowned up at him for a moment before crossing my arms to glare. "Were you spying on me all night waiting for the meeting?"

He shrugged, acting as if there were nothing remotely creepy about what he'd done, leading me to reach over and smack his arm. I still hadn't figured out why I knew I could be so casually physical with him without putting myself in danger, but I did.

"What?" He said innocently, lifting his hands in a defensive gesture.

"Stop it with the creeper tendencies, Damon! You're borderline intimidating enough without being a psycho stalker. No more stalking me, comprende?"

He rolled his eyes before sauntering to the door. "So I'll pick you up after work tomorrow, say four?"

I sighed, hugging my waist and rolling my eyes in response. It seemed Damon brought out the inner thirteen year old in my eyes, as they were constantly rolling in his presence. "Sure. Four will be fine, but I expect a real meal. No McDonald's or Burger King."

He snorted. "As if I ever eat that crap, I was thinking Donatello's in Baybridge. That gets us out of Mystic Falls and away from busybody ears so we can talk without worrying who might be listening in. Sound good?"

I smiled halfheartedly. "Yeah, Damon…good thinking. See you then, but I can't stay out all night. I'll have another stack of papers just as tall tomorrow night to push through."

He curled his lip up and I could see the snark coming before it left his mouth. "You're the teacher, assign a movie day, and give yourself a day off."

I snorted shaking my head and moving to usher him out the door. "Yeah, a day off on my second day on the job. The school board would LOVE that! Goodbye, Damon. See you tomorrow after work."

I didn't miss the smirk on his lips as he walked through the door and down the hall. I fell straight into bed and didn't process anything else until the alarm woke me up less than six hours later. It only took two seconds after I hit the snooze button for me to sit up in my bed with wide eyes.

"Wait…did Damon ask me on a date last night?"

I jumped up and ran to the living room, seeing the signs of my visitors the night before, including my now empty bottle of merlot that had just been uncorked earlier that evening. The events of the night came flooding back; telling Elena about my background, Elena comforting me, Damon, of all people, comforting me and telling me I was an innocent bystander in the entire situation, and his asking me to dinner before he left. It was all vivid now, but I still wasn't sure. Was it a date? Or was it just a chance to talk without nosy busybodies getting into our business? Butterflies immediately invaded my stomach as I went back to grab a shower and get ready for my day.

My outfit for my second day of work was a little sexier than the day before…just in case. I wore layers for easy transition from day to night. I had a pretty good day, not even the rowdy Freshmen dampening my spirits. The afternoon was a dream and before I knew it, I had managed to get half my grading done over lunch and prep periods, leaving far less to deal with after work, thus more time to spend with Damon…even if it wasn't a date….or was it? I really was driving myself bonkers trying to figure it out all the way up to the moment that I stripped out of my blazer to reveal the silver and black tank top underneath with the deep V neck. I slipped on some better jewelry, touched up my makeup and took down my hair to leave it flowing down my back. One last look in the mirror I kept in a drawer of my desk, I figured I was as ready as I'd ever be.

I slowly made my way to the door to head to the parking lot where I expected Damon to be waiting on me, willing my excited heart to slow. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised to find him leaning against the lockers just outside my door, smirking down at me.

"All that trouble for me? I'm honored."

I cut my eyes up at him, trying to be coy, yet also trying to sort out the signals. "I like to look my best when being treated to a night out, regardless of the company I will be keeping."

His eyes danced as he moved to stand beside me, offering his arm in a gentlemanly way that was rarely seen in modern times. I smirked up at him before wrapping my arm in his, allowing him to escort me through the halls toward the front of the building. I couldn't resist commenting.

"Nicely done, Salvatore. Do tell, is this a remnant of the manners you learned in your human years?"

He stiffened slightly before looking down at me seriously, all signs of teasing draining from his body. "Yes, actually. You do know our history, right?"

I scoffed. "I was raised a Gilbert; Mystic Falls history was crammed down my throat harder than the U.S. Constitution. From a historical standpoint, I know a lot about you, Mr. Salvatore, but history tends to gloss over the details."

A small hint of a smile danced across his lips as he continued to look toward our destination. "How true," was his only response.

The air was slightly cool as he opened the door for me, revealing another snapshot of a Damon long forgotten by the rest of the world. I gasped as he led me to the most beautiful, mint condition, 1967 Chevy Camaro I had ever seen in real life. He opened the door for me, offering a hand to help me settle in, which was actually nice seeing as how I was trying to do so in heels and a tight pencil skirt.

The drive to Baybridge was filled with a surprisingly comfortable quiet. I watched the scenery pass in a blur as he sped down the roads, glancing often in my direction, inciting a faint flushed feeling in my cheeks.

When we arrived, Damon rushed to my side of the car, helping me out just as he had let me in before escorting me to the door and addressing the hostess. Her eyes glazed a bit as she stared at him, turning on the fluttering eyelashes and charm, but he looked through her as if she weren't even there. To be honest, I almost felt bad for her as I watched her deflate as her self esteem bubble was burst before my very eyes. She led us to the table as Damon moved to place a hand at the small of my back, guiding me through the restaurant. To say I felt a thrill at the contact was an understatement, but I did a relatively good job masking the reaction…I think.

As soon as we settled, he glanced at a wine list, ordering a very expensive bottle as well as a glass of high dollar scotch for himself. I couldn't help but smile a little at how well he fit in, his regal demeanor commanding the people around him. He was an example of the quintessential founding family way of conducting oneself in that moment. I knew he was so much more, but it felt odd to find it appealing for once.

When the waiter came back, he poured us glasses before asking if we were prepared to order. Damon looked up at me questioningly, causing me to blush again because I hadn't even opened the menu. I had been too busy staring at him. He told the waiter to give us a few more minutes, smirking down at his menu as I opened mine and perused my options. The prices were ridiculous, but Damon was the one who had chosen it, so I wasn't going to let it bother me. Eventually I picked out my choice and closed my menu to find that I was the one being scrutinized. I cursed my warming cheeks as my eyes lifted to meet with his intense blue gaze.

After a moment, he smiled slowly. "You ready now?"

I nodded and swallowed hard past the lump in my throat. Without looking away, he gestured to the waiter, ordering his steak and lobster without moving his gaze. My eyes darted down to the top of the menu before I turned to the waiter and ordered the Shrimp Linguini in Alfredo and a garden salad. I handed him the menu before turning my eyes slowly back to Damon.

His eyes still hadn't left me when my gaze met his. "Shall we toast?" He asked, reaching before him to lift his own wine glass and gesturing toward me with it. With a shaky hand, I reached out and picked up my own glass, extending it to meet his.

"To getting to know each other."

"To getting to know each other," I echoed before taking a long slow sip of the exquisite liquid. It was definitely a step up from the cheap bottles I tended to keep on hand. I hummed my appreciation, which earned a larger smile on Damon's face.

"Glad you appreciate the vintage. Hopefully you take more time to savor it than you did that bottle last night. Speaking of, how are you doing today?"

"Better," in whispered in reply.

"Good," he said jovially before picking up the wine bottle and refilling my glass.

After sharing a few quiet sips, he settled back in his chair. "Well, should we get to the question and answer portion of this evening?"

I swilled a couple more drinks of my wine before sitting the glass down in front of me and folding my hands in my lap.

"I think what I want to know most is what Vamp traits you actually have. You aren't wearing any special rings, so apparently the sun is no problem."

"Actually, I burned extremely easily when I was a child. I was tested for an allergy to sunlight, but none of the results were conclusive. Eventually I grew out of it. At the time, I didn't even consider it as odd, but now I suspect it had something to do with that part of me."

He sniffed, lifting his glass to take another drink before sitting it down.

"Blood?"

I shrugged. "Never had any to know, but it's not like I have the lust or anything."

"And vervain doesn't affect you?"

I smiled, running my finger over the necklace I always wore to ward off compulsion. "Nope…not even a rash."

He frowned as if considering something before running a finger over his lips. "So I already know from you hearing me at the Grill the day we met that you have heightened hearing. Any other powers?"

I put my palms up, staring down at them with a sad smile. "Nope. Pity, as they might actually come in handy."

He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table, staring right into my eyes. "So, why bother fathering you if you don't have any of those special features that come with the territory?"

I shrugged again. "Maybe it didn't work out quite as planned? I don't know. It doesn't change the fact that I'm some sort of mystical anomaly though. From what I understand, that's all that's needed…not for me to have any special powers, just the right combination of blood ties."

"Huh," Damon hummed, sitting back in his seat again as his he stared at the flame of the candle on the table between us. After a bit of processing he looked up again, his lips pulled into a cute little pout to the left of his face. I couldn't help but stare at them.

"Do you think that if you tried _imbibing_ that it might bring out any latent powers that might be hiding in there?"

I shrugged for a third time in five minutes, suddenly feeling like a moron. "Never thought about it or tried it. I guess it's possible, but I'm not all that keen to find out."

He raised an eyebrow. "Even if it means saving Elena?"

I narrowed my eyes in his direction. "You know I'd give anything to save her."

He smirked, leaning in seductively and taking my hand in his, trailing his finger along the blue veins on the underside of my wrist. "We could always give it a try and see. If you didn't want to do it the old fashioned away, you could always try one of our blood bank bags…or even try some from me."

My eyes widened and my heart pounded. "I…you…what are you seriously suggesting, Damon?"

His eyes made my mouth go dry as he stared into me, straight to the core of my soul. I shivered and swallowed as he lifted my hand, kissing the vein he'd just outlined.

"I'm only suggesting an experiment. You should try drinking a little to see if it makes you any stronger, any more capable of using a power or two."

I shook my head as I yanked my hand out of his grasp. What he was suggesting seemed dangerous and ill advised.

"I don't think I'm ready for those types of experiments."

It surprised me to find that instead of anger at my rejection of his suggestion, Damon's eyes danced, the smirk on his lips growing into a full blown smile. We took a break from our conversation to allow the waiter to deliver my salad before turning quickly to leave us to our conversation. I glanced down at the salad, not feeling particularly hungry in that instant. I folded my hands and looked back up to Damon, waiting for him to continue.

"Okay, I'll drop it…for now. Here's a more constructive question. Have you ever seen Klaus? Right now we're working at a bit of a disadvantage and the only person who knows what he looks like is concealing the information for self preservation purposes."

I cocked my head in confusion. "Of course I met Klaus, he was the one who summoned me, but now you have me curious. Who are you talking about?"

The amusement in his eyes darkened as he leaned back again, picking up the stronger alcohol this time and guzzling in one long swig. "What do you know of Katherine Pierce?"

I groaned, my eyes narrowing in his direction. "You're shitting me!"

At this, he laughed, a loud, boisterous laugh as his head fell back. He was gorgeous like that, free and almost wild. "Unfortunately, no I'm not."

I growled under my breath. "Of course Katherine's here…selfish bitch. You know she was the first person I met in my quest for Romania and answers. I thought she was Elena until I started talking to her. She handed me over like a lamb for the slaughter, thinking I would be a great diversion while she escaped. She had no clue who I was and underestimated the results of her move. She barely escaped."

"Yeah, well right now she's hiding behind her knowledge to keep her safe."

I snorted. "Well I can end that right now. Klaus is more or less Viggo Mortensen on steroids with more hair. He's very attractive and very…primal. He's going to be easy to spot and impossible to kill. Even if I break the curse before they can use Elena, there's no guarantee he won't wipe the whole town out in retaliation for my disobedience, but it's worth the risk for me."

Damon frowned into his glass, moving back to allow the waiter who had just arrived with our steaming food to put down his plate before leaning forward again. "There's got to be another way," he nearly whispered before looking up at me with determined eyes. "It surprises even me to say this, but I don't want you kicking the bucket. You're the most entertainment I've had in years. It'd be a total waste for you to lose your pretty little head for this if there was another way. If there's one alternative, then there has to be others too…right?"

I licked my lips and smiled, feeling honored that he found me worth of living, as ridiculous as that sounded. Finally, I sighed and moved to take a bite of my waiting salad.

"Yeah, well, for now I'm our only choice and I'm tired of talking about it. Let's just forget all this drama and relax. You in?"

Damon smiled brightly at me before stabbing a piece of his raw steak with his fork and winking as he popped it into his mouth. "I am if you are, hot stuff."

I smiled back. "Good, because I'm tired of being the sacrificial lamb. For just one night I want to be a normal girl."

He leaned in conspiratorially before reaching to stab one of my shrimp with his fork and popping it in his mouth with a triumphant smirk. "Well babe, I hate to break it to you, but even if you weren't part mythical, you'd still be _way_ better than normal."

I felt my cheeks flush as I forked a piece myself to pop into my own mouth. The rest of the meal we sat and talked like any other couple on a first date…if that was what it was. I still hadn't worked that bit out. After dinner, he led me back out to his car by the arm and kissed my hand as he helped me get seated. The drive home was way too short before we pulled in front of my building. Damon walked me to my door like a gentleman, placing a soft kiss on my cheek before disappearing in a blur of black the second my door was unlocked.

I felt bewildered as I closed the door and leaned against it, my hand moving to rest over the place on my cheek that still felt warmer than the rest of me where his lips had brushed ever so briefly. With a sigh, I moved into my apartment, smiling when I saw my work bag and keys to my car were already waiting for me thanks to my niece and her boyfriend. I distractedly changed into sweats and began trying to grade the homework papers waiting for me, but if I thought I was distracted by thoughts of Damon the night before, that was nothing compared to what I faced that night.

I went to bed two hours later having not completed my grading, but hoping I could get them done during the morning. With any luck, my students wouldn't be able to throw it in my face that I hadn't been a good example of completing my work on time. I sighed as I lay in bed staring at the ceiling and thinking of my dinner with Damon. I was totally screwed!


	6. Chapter 6

_**Author's Note: A big thanks to MissSherrie and Elohcin for prereading these chapters. I don't actually have a full on beta, right now, partially because I haven't asked either of them or anyone else, so if there are errors, they're all my fault. Anyway, on to the next chapter (I finished ch 10 at 11:30pm last night, so you've still got a few days before we'll start seeing a delay in postings) Hope you enjoy…Cue drama in 3,2,1, Action!**_

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**Chapter 6**

I woke up the next morning, feeling almost as confused as I had the morning before. My night out with Damon felt like a dream. Even an hour after waking and getting ready for work, I still felt like maybe it had all been the product of my imagination and not reality, but that was mostly because a lot of the things Damon did seemed out of character. Nothing I had seen so far from him hinted to a gentlemanly nature. Even in the histories of the town, Damon Salvatore was known for his unorthodox ways. It seemed far more reasonable that the entire exchange was a product of my overactive imagination than a real event.

I had almost convinced myself of that when I gathered my things for the day and moved to the door of my apartment. I screamed when the second I opened the door a black blur flew through the portal, pinning me to the wall with a hand over my mouth to halt my response. I was breathing hard behind his hand as I blinked up in surprise at Damon whose crystal blue eyes were boring into my own.

"I'm sorry, but there was something I wanted to do last night that I stupidly didn't do and I've been up all night thinking about it."

He moved his hand to expose my mouth before covering it with his own. I gasped in a combination of surprise at the action as well as the sensation as his warm, soft lips conformed to my own. His hand, which had been covering my mouth, slid into my hair while the other latched onto my waist, pulling me closer. After a few long seconds, he pulled back slowly, leaving me panting for breath.

I had no words as I blinked up at him in question and tried to catch my breath. His crooked smile made my insides dance, but then another thought doused all the flames growing inside me with ice cold water. I pushed away and moved a few steps away back into my living room.

"What are you doing, Damon?"

He moved toward me with catlike grace. "Why, what I want to do, of course. I only do things I want to do, Bekah."

I sucked in a ragged breath before bracing my hand against his chest, holding him a little at bay. "Listen…you know you're attractive, and sexy, and really appealing, but…I…I don't think getting involved in something, serious or casual, with someone who is in love with my niece is a good idea. I…I don't have the luxury of all of this. I'm sorry, Damon. I…I have to go. I'm going to be late for work."

He frowned at me as I moved past him, reaching for my bag which had fallen on the floor, when he caught my arm and tugged me back toward him. Grasping my upper arms in his hands, he glared down at me.

"No…you don't get to run away from me. You don't get to run away from this. I GET you Bekah, because you and I are a lot alike. I've figured that out over the past few days. We run, we hide, and then we find something to fight to take our focus, we pour everything into it to distract us from the other things we're trying not to see. Don't run from me, Bekah."

Tears welled in my eyes as I stared up at him. "Why, so I can get invested and then watch you run off after Elena like a lovesick puppy when she calls? So I can care only to have to rip my heart out when I have to go die to end this curse? Thanks, but no thanks."

I braced my hands on his chest and shoved, surprise registering in both of our eyes when Damon stumbled back a few steps. I stared with wide eyes as he gaped at me in equal surprise. We both knew that I shouldn't have been able to move him if he hadn't chosen to move away, his vampire strength being far superior to my own, and yet, somehow I had.

We blinked at each other a few times before I stuttered a "I have to go or I'll be late," before grabbing my bag and disappearing through the door and down the hallway toward my car. For whatever reason, Damon didn't chase me. My heart pounded as I started the car and sped away toward the school, wishing my life weren't so complicated.

The morning sucked. I had zero tolerance for the bullshit of a room full of fourteen year olds. The result? They ended up with a mountain of homework in the form of an essay on the themes in Romeo and Juliet that they had to start in class if they ever stood a chance of getting it in on time the next morning. I rightfully earned my nickname of The Shakespeare Nazi that morning. My mood hadn't lightened by fourth period, earning worried looks from Stefan.

After class ended, Stefan carefully approached my desk, pulling one of the desks around the side of the desk to sit next to me with a frown.

"Everything okay, Bekah?"

I sighed and pursed my lips as I stapled the worksheet packets for the afternoon classes with a particularly brutal slam of my fist on the stapler.

"Did my brother do something inappropriate last night?"

I snorted, slamming my hand on the stapler to bind the next bundle. "Nope."

"Is it something to do with me or Elena?"

With a sigh, I looked up at Stefan. "No, I'm just…ugh! Why can't my life ever be simple? Everything is always a major drama. My own family hated me; my father wasn't even my father; I'm the lynchpin in some big mystical curse breaking scheme; I have to save my niece from being sacrificed by those same psychos; and now I have to deal with a doomed attraction to an arrogant, twisted, confused vampire who happens to already be in love with said niece even if she's given her heart to someone else. And even if that wasn't my biggest problem, I don't want to have another reason not to be able to do what I have to do to save Elena."

Stefan eyed me in confusion before the reality of what I was saying sunk in. He looked like he was considering for a moment before shifting his weight a little and reaching out a hand to rest over mine as it pummeled the stapler repeatedly after it jammed on my last bundle. I looked back up into his knowing smile and sighed.

"None of this is fair, Stefan, and letting myself get involved with Damon is a recipe for disaster no matter how things turn out."

"When Damon came home last night he said that you had a nice time. What changed?"

I took in a deep breath before leaning back in my chair and crossing my arms. "He showed up at my apartment this morning and kissed me."

Stefan's eyebrow shot up, much like his brother, his eyes dancing as a smile played at the corners of his lips. "And that's a problem?"

"When he's already obsessed with my niece and I'm facing walking into a fire I'm never coming back from, then yes." I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath. "It was waaay too good. I…I'm not sure I have the willpower to resist even when I know it's almost certain to end up in me suffering, one way or another."

Stefan reached out to rest his hand on my trouser covered knee, squeezing it gently. "Damon has had horrible luck with women. First, Katherine used him for her own purposes and tossed him aside when she was done with him. He died being completely devoted to her, and he held onto that for a hundred and forty-six years, desperately searching for a way to release her from a prison that she wasn't even in as we had believed her to be. Then his affections grew for Elena who rebuffed him completely. The last person he grew to care for, Rose, died in his arms after suffering the ill effects of receiving a werewolf bite. If Damon is willing to open his heart to you, then that's a good thing. He deserves a chance at happiness."

I sighed, fiddling with my hands in my lap. "Would it actually give him happiness? I mean, if this goes the way I think it will, won't I end up just another story of Damon's bad luck?"

"What if we find another way to break the curse and you give up whatever you might have together out of fear?"

"How do you know it would even be anything real? Damon has a reputation for being a player. What if I'm just another notch on his bedpost?"

Stefan smirked this time, showing just how much he and his brother looked alike. "You said he showed up at your place this morning and kissed you, but hadn't kissed you the night before?"

I nodded.

"If you knew Damon, you'd know he's not usually the take things slow type. If you were just another conquest, he would have seduced his way into your bed last night, or at the absolute least kissed you goodnight. It's different somehow with you and that's good. Just do me a favor and consider seeing what develops if you just allow it?"

I frowned up at him as he stood. "Aren't you worried about him getting hurt?"

He just smiled down at me. "Nobody walking the planet is immune to the possibility of getting hurt. Why don't you let him decide what he does or doesn't want to risk?"

I huffed and crossed my arms, glaring down at the piles of packets ready for my afternoon students. "I'll think about it."

He smiled and winked. "That's all I can ask." And with that, he left to go find Elena in the lunchroom.

I rocked in my chair and thought about what Stefan said before getting out my cell phone and looking at the screen. There were three texts, all from Damon. I wasn't even sure when he'd gotten my number, but it seemed he wasn't afraid to use it.

The first was sent a few minutes after I left him at my apartment…in my apartment actually. I hadn't even thought about the fact that I'd left him in my place, alone.

_Mind explaining to me what the hell just happened?_

The second one came about half an hour later…

_Fine, don't respond, but this is far from over. Expect to see me after work…if not before_

The third had been sent just ten minutes before, while I was talking to Stefan.

_Don't leave your class! I know you have the next half hour free and I'm coming there. You're not running…not this time._

I pressed my lips together and closed my phone, sliding it back into my purse when I felt his presence beside me. I didn't even jump, turning to look up at his pained eyes. I pressed my lips together before taking in a slow breath.

"Hi, Damon."

He didn't say a word, just continued to stare. Finally he opened his mouth, his eyes shining with something akin to anger and yet not quite.

"I have been walking the face of this planet for 170 years. I think I'm old enough to decide what I do or do not want to get myself into."

I crossed my arms and leaned back in my chair, cocking my head at him. "Been talking to Stefan or just listening in on private conversations again?"

"So, I caught the last half of your conversation. Anybody could have walked up and overheard you."

"Through a closed classroom door?"

He rolled his eyes and squatted down beside my desk. "Okay, so anybody with supernatural hearing…that still includes a decent number of people in this town alone."

I snorted out a half laugh before licking my lips and leaning in closer.

"Why would you even want to go there at all, Damon, knowing my destiny?"

His face hardened, his eyes narrowing to slits. "I don't believe that your destiny is to die and it's incredibly rare to meet someone like you, so I'm not going to sit back and watch it happen without a fight."

I cocked my eyebrow. "You mean a screwed up hybrid?"

His eyes softened as he shifted closer, resting a hand on my knee. "No. I mean someone I respect because I don't respect anybody."

He stood up and backed toward the door, smirking at me as he pointed in my direction. "Tonight, I'm picking you up again. We have a lot to talk about, including that little Xena Warrior Princess impersonation you gave right before you left me alone this morning in your now empty apartment."

I stood up, moving toward him. "Empty? What the hell are you talking…"

I got cut off by the ringing bell followed by the immediate flow of students in the hallway just as he backed into the corridor.

He shrugged as he backed away through the crowd. "That shoebox was too small. You're all settled in our house. I'll have Stefan drive your car home, so don't worry about it."

My mouth fell open in surprise, and by the time I found my voice to yell out "_Damon_?"he was gone. I blinked at where he had been moments before a few times before finally turning to walk back into my classroom now filling with my next class of students. I shook my head a few times, feeling completely bewildered before turning to go back to my desk and begin my next lesson, unsure of when exactly I had lost the last vestiges of control I had over my life.


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note: Okay, so one of my prereader made a comment that Damon starts feeling a little out of character here and in later chapters, but here is my thought on it. If you compare Damon now to Damon in the first season, he would seem out of character too…he is changing and evolving, and Bekah is going to be a catalyst for some major adjustments in his life throughout this fic. He's still going to be Damon with the smart mouth and synicism, but for once, he's going to care for someone who cares back just as much. Even the biggest bully can be a teddy bear with the one person he loves…same is true for Damon. I just wanted to say that for the record. Also please note that this story will start earning its Mature audiences rating in a couple of chapters from now…so just beware that things are about to get a lot spicier. **

**Big thanks to Elohcin and MissSherrie for prereading this for me, and to my WC girls, particulary MizzDee, who gets me excited for your reactions on things to come. This fic seems to have a really small following, but I'm loving every single one of our reviews. They are all so appreciated. Thank you so much! **

**Now enough chit chat…let's get to back to the story in progress…**

* * *

**Chapter 7**

I wasn't sure what to expect when the day ended to reveal Damon standing in the hallway outside of my class. The girls eyed him as they exited the room, but he didn't seem to care either way, his devious smile trained on me. I was pretty sure this meant I was about to be in for a shock.

"So, hot stuff, you ready to go?"

"I don't know about this, Damon. I had my own place for a reason…otherwise I would have taken the spare room at the Gilbert homestead. This just doesn't seem like a good idea."

He just smirked at me as he propped an arm on my shoulder and yanked my bag out of my grip carrying it in his free hand. "Well, it's too late now. I already compelled your landlord into breaking your lease without penalty and all of your things are settled in the guest room down the hall from my room, minus some of your more…vintage…items."

I glared up at him. "What did you do with my futon, Damon?"

"Nothing that shouldn't have been done ten years ago…that hunk of junk was begging to be put out of its misery."

My chin dropped to my chest. "Damon, that was my only bed."

His smirk widened. "Not anymore. We have sixteen spare bedrooms besides mine and Stefan's. We have rooms and furniture to spare. IF you ever decide to move out, you can take it with you. We wouldn't even notice."

The way he stiffened when he mentioned me moving out wasn't lost on me and made some small corner of the resistance inside me melt. It was a tiny piece of the large iceberg I had firmly wedged into my defenses, but if he continued, he might chip it away much more quickly than I expected. I swallowed and released a long sigh.

As we reached the door, we ran into Rick who looked up at us with surprised eyes before his vision narrowed at Damon. Damon shot a look back before shaking his head at him.

"Back off, guard dog, I have nothing but respect for the lady. I'm just making sure she doesn't catch the plague from the hole in the wall she had been living in, so just calm yourself down."

Rick looked at me imploringly, obviously hoping I would choose to step away from Damon and return to something akin to sanity, but I couldn't, and to be honest, I really didn't want to no matter how much I worried that it was a disaster in the making. With sad eyes he took in a deep breath and nodded, but before we were out of sight, he called out to me, telling me that if I ever needed anything, not to hesitate to call. I thanked him before turning back to Damon.

"He knows about you, doesn't he?"

Damon laughed, squeezing me into his side slightly. "You could say that. He used to be married to Isobel, Elena's mother. He came here hunting me because he thought I'd killed her, when in reality I granted her wish and turned her. We've learned to get along now. He's helped Stefan, Elena, and I on more than one occasion."

I shook my head, "Wait, YOU changed Isobel? Why?"

He shrugged. "Why not? She asked me to and so I did. No harm, no foul."

I scoffed, looking at my feet as we walked, hoping that he'd learned since then that all actions had consequences, yet with the casual attitude he seemed to have about it, it didn't seem that he had. As we reached the door, an umbrella materialized above me before Damon led me into the falling rain.

It was a short car ride to the Salvatore mansion. I gasped as I took it all in. I'd seen it from the outside several times when I was young. I'd seen pictures of the inside, but I'd never been this close. Damon pulled under a covered portico and rushed around to help me out of the car before leading me to the front door. He opened it with flair, gesturing for me to walk inside.

I gasped as I looked around the large open area that the front door opened to, lined with rick dark wood and intricately carved trims. A shining wooden staircase rose to the right and then crossed above me to another part of the house as the room before me led to a hallway that stretched back into the rest of the first floor. I swallowed hard as I looked around before looking back at a beaming Damon.

"This…this is too much. I…I can't live here. I…"

"Belong with your own kind. You were worried about bringing danger to the Gilbert house, so you hid away in your shoebox, but whatever trouble you bring with you is a drop in the bucket in comparison to what happens around here. Even with that being said, you're much safer here than there."

Just then a dark skinned girl with curly hair who could easily be Elena, but I knew without any doubt was not, came sauntering into the room in jeans and a tank top. "Oh, Damon, Aunt Bekah, I'm glad you could make it."

I turned and glared at Damon. "You didn't mention anything about Katherine being here. Is she living here too?"

Damon shrugged apologetically at which point I took a step back. "No, Damon. Damn it, no. You take all my shit, pack it up, and return it right where you found it. I'm NOT living under the same roof as Katherine Pierce!"

Damon rolled his eyes before stepping toward me. "Listen, I know it sucks, but Stefan seems to think she still has some knowledge that can help us when Klaus shows up. Until then, she doesn't have anywhere else to stay."

A slow grin spread across my face. "I have an idea…ship HER off to my shoebox apartment! Win, win!"

Damon beamed down at me, his eyes dancing before he turned to Katherine, his face suddenly serious. "Hey! That's a good idea. Go pack your crap, Katherine. I think I can even get her trashed out futon back for you to sleep on. I could have you there before dawn!"

Katherine rolled her eyes. "Yeah, that's not going to happen." With that, she turned and sauntered off into the bowels of the house as Damon turned back to me.

"This is going to be even better than I thought! Come on, let me show you the place. It's your home now so go wherever you want."

I tugged his arm, letting him know I didn't want to follow. I looked up at him with a frown. "I was serious, Damon. I'm not safe living here with HER. She'll slit my throat while I sleep before you can say betrayal."

Damon shook his head, turning to hold both my upper arms in his grasp and pulling me a little closer than before. His breath tickled my lips as he whispered to me. "I won't let that happen. She knows without a word from any of us, that if she harms a hair on your head, she's as good as ash. Listen, I really want you here, as does Stefan and Elena. We all feel better knowing you're safe with us."

I opened my mouth to contradict him, but he put his hand over it to stop me. "No…you're safe with us. I swear it. Now please, just give us all one less thing to worry about and just stay?"

I swallowed and huffed out a frustrated breath before looking back at his pleading eyes. "Fine," I breathed, "but I will not hesitate to stake that bitch if she as much as breathes in my direction. Is that okay with you?"

He smiled brightly, reaching to push some of my hair over my shoulder. "Actually, I'd pay good money to see that."

"Well, stick around, you might owe me some dough soon if she doesn't keep herself in check." I said that last bit a little louder just to make sure she heard it from wherever she perched to snoop. Damon laughed again, smoothing his hands down my arms to take my hands in his, and lifting them to his lips. He kissed the backs before walking backwards and pulling me into the house.

"Come on, Xena. I need to show you around this place."

I was so turned around by the time that he finally brought me to our hall that I wasn't sure I was ever going to find my way out of the place again. With a proud smile, he opened the door to the room he had set aside for me. I blinked in shock when the view behind the door was laid before me. The room was beautiful, fit for a princess even. The huge four poster bed was draped with white satin that hang down in waves from the top of the mahogany bed frame the created a latticework above the mattress, just a little lower than the tall ceiling. The rest of the room was filled with rich woods, the seats covered in cushions of satin. Amongst the items in the room sat my belongings, which surprisingly didn't clash with the décor as I had expected it to. I walked to the closet and opened it to find it was full of my clothes, hung neatly, and even sorted by type.

I turned slowly in the middle of the room one last time before looking back at Damon with wide eyes. "This is amazing…and beautiful. It's too much."

He shook his head and cut his eyes at me. "Not at all. I think it suits you. If you need anything at all, my bedroom is just two doors down. Anytime, day or night, come find me…okay?"

I nodded, glancing back at the room before turning to see Damon turning to leave. "Wait!" I blurted. "Can…Can I _see _your room? I'm…I'm just curious."

He smiled a devilishly mischievous smile before nodding and taking my hand to lead me down the hall two doors to the entrance to his room. He opened the door and stepped aside for me to enter. I gasped as I took in the massive room with the biggest bed I'd ever seen in real life sitting upon a Persian rug. It dominated one corner of the room, angling out into the open center in front of a wall of windows and some beautiful French doors that opened onto a balcony with thick black out drapes covering them. His room was sparse and masculine and yet still completely breathtaking in an understated way.

The only decoration in the room was two famous paintings hung on the wall and illuminated by display lights and a massive mirror leaning against the wall by his bed. To contrast with the beauty of the old and reverent, a plasma TV hung across from the bed as well, the only sign beside the electric lights illuminating the room of the modern times in which we were living.

There were was a small night stand with a lamp on the right side of the bed as you faced it with piles of books nearly as tall as the night stand itself on the floor in front of it. I took a wild guess that he tended to sleep on the right, which worked out well because I slept on the left. I shook my head at the errant thought before walking closer to the beautiful wood bed with the four thick posts and the elaborately etched headboard embedded with panels of a yellow stained glass. The bed itself was an absolute work of art, which made me glad to see Damon had chosen not to overpower the beauty of the bed itself with tawdry bedding, but instead soft white, Egyptian cotton sheets and a thick white duvet rested across it instead.

Across from the bed was an amazing bathroom lined with stone. It boasted a seamless glass shower and the most delicious looking smooth oval stand alone bath tub. I hoped my heartbeat wasn't showing the odd little fantasies that flitted through my mind at the sight of that tub.

I turned slowly back to Damon with a smile. "This place is awesome." I moved to look at the paintings. "These look familiar. Are they famous?"

It didn't surprise me when Damon shrugged. "I don't know. They were here when I moved in. I didn't feel like taking them down, so there they are."

I chuckled before moving to look at his book collection. In all honesty, they were the only things besides the paintings that looked old and used. I pointed to them and raised my eyebrows. "May I?"

He nodded toward them with a smirk. "Knock yourself out. Being a Lit teacher and all, I'm sure you'll appreciate the irony."

I folded myself on the floor by the pile and picked up the top book, surprised to find Gone With The Wind, although considering the time he was from, I guess it wasn't that surprising. What WAS surprising however was what I found when I opened the fragile old book was the information on the inside. My eyes flew to Damon's.

"Oh my God, Damon! This is a first edition."

He smiled down at me from his perch on the edge of the bed. "Yeah, there are a lot of those here…many of them right there in that pile."

I gaped at him a few moments before carefully sitting the book aside and picking up each book in the pile, my heart pounding with each priceless volume I held in my hands. In addition to the first novel, he had first editions of A Tale of Two Cities, War and Peace, Les Miserables, Crime and Punishment, Great Expectations, and Anna Karenina. They were beautiful and amazing and I was impressed that he had read them, but they didn't surprise me nearly as much as the second pile. I had to suppress a girly giggle as I saw such works as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Tom Sawyer, Alice and Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass, and David Copperfield. A part of me wanted to ask if they were some of his favorite novels from his youth, but something stopped me. I smiled as I carefully restored his piles in the order in which I found them before looking back up at him with a smile.

"I am quite surprised, Mr. Salvatore. I never would have expected such a sophisticated and varied collection of literary works to be in your repertoire."

Damon put his hand to his chest as if wounded before extending the hand to me to help me stand. "Yes, well I have to have SOMEthing to do to pass the time while everyone else runs off to school and work. Things get pretty boring sometimes."

He stood there holding my hand, and I couldn't help the reaction in my chest as he looked down at me. It surprised me how often his eyes seemed to have a softness when he looked at me…a softness he didn't seem to have when he looked at anybody else.

I smiled softly up at him and ran my thumb over his fingers where he held my hand in his. "Well, you could always get a job too…you know…contribute to society? Let them benefit from your century and a half of knowledge and wisdom?"

He gave me his best 'are you insane' look but it quickly morphed into a huge smile as I teased him a bit. I waited a beat before breathing out, "On second thought."

His eyes twinkled as he stared down at me. "I'm not sure what's worse…when you're serious or when you aren't! I do know one thing though. You're going to pay for that one!"

In an instant, he grabbed me by my waist, throwing me on the bed and attacking my ribs with his fingers. Tears streamed from my face as I gasped for breath between ongoing laughter. "STOP! Oh Please STOP!" I managed to call out between giggles at which point he plopped down next to me in the bed that was seriously the size of two King size beds spliced together. He propped his head on his hand and looked down at me with a big smile.

"I don't remember the last time I did that. I'm pretty sure it was long before I changed. It felt…good."

I smiled back at him as I continued to try to recapture my breath. "I'm glad." I gasped.

We stayed there for a while until my breaths finally evened out into a smooth flow, Damon watching me the whole time with those soft eyes. When I was calm again, he reached out to trace his finger down my arm closes to him.

"I'm really glad you're here."

I smiled up at him as he reached my hand and wrapped his fingers with mine. "I am too."

His eyes darkened slightly and it looked like he was going to say something for a split second before he sat up and took a deep breath.

"Well, I better let you settle in. I thought maybe we could have supper together in an hour or so, and we can have that discussion I suggested at school then. That sound okay to you?"

I nodded, letting him pull me up to stand next to him. "Yeah, that sounds great."

He walked me back to my room, kissing the back of my hand again before watching me enter my room and close the door. His footsteps faded in the direction of his bedroom as I rested my head against the door, still reeling from the major shift in my life in just a few short days.

I familiarized myself with my room a few minutes before taking a shower and changing into something more casual for dinner, having grown sick and tired of wearing skirts and trousers all day every day after only a few days of work. I wasted the whole hour drying my hair and choosing an outfit that looked nice with looking like I was TRYING to look nice.

Once I was ready, I opened the door to my room and looked down the hallway, trying to decide which way I was supposed to go to get to the dining room. With a sigh, I decided to go left, wandering quietly down the hallway and pausing in front of Damon's room before thinking better of knocking and continuing on. I was only a couple of steps past the door when it flew open and Damon's head peeked out.

"Wrong way, gorgeous. The dining room is the other way." He stepped out, closing the door behind him and offering me his arm with a smile. I took it, as I returned the smile and let him lead me back to the staircase and down to the dining room, paying attention to exactly how we had gone so I wouldn't get turned around the next time.

We walked through a large living area with a massive fireplace where Stefan and Elena were curled up on the couch, reading together. I smiled and waved as we walked by. Stefan's smile was ten miles wide as he looked our way.

I chuckled as Damon tugged on my arm, rushing me through the room. "You two stay out. This clambake is for us, not you."

Stefan's smile grew wider, his eyes twinkling over at us. "Okay, big brother. We'll steer clear. Glad to have you here, Bekah."

I could barely get out a thank you before the heavy mahogany door closed behind me. I turned to see the table set with a simple place setting, a silver dome covering a dish in the middle of the table. Damon played the gentleman, holding my chair and pouring my drink before unveiling our meal, making my eyes pop.

"Is that Salmon Casserole?"

Damon shrugged, dishing some onto my plate before adding some to his. "I asked Elena for suggestions and she said this was your favorite. Seemed easy enough to make, even for someone who never cooks."

I took a bite and hummed. "It's perfect, Damon. Thank you. You didn't have to go through the trouble. I could have just thrown together a sandwich."

He rolled his eyes before taking a bite and grimacing slightly making me chuckle. "It's not a dish that is universally loved. Father and I were the only ones who liked it when I was young. Grayson and John always foraged for an alternative when the housekeeper would make it, but I always loved it. I'm not sure why."

Damon took another bite before dropping his fork with a shrug. "Not like I have to eat anyway."

I frowned at his plate before looking at mine and back again. "I feel bad being the only one eating. Do you want to go get a glass of blood or something?"

He cut his eyes at me, a smirk gracing his lips. "Nice offer, but I'm fine. Go ahead."

I took another reluctant bite, chewing slowly under his intense blue gaze. I took a long sip of the wine he'd put before me, humming at the taste before smiling his way. He smiled back before leaning in on his elbows.

"So…any ideas where that burst of strength came from this morning?"

I shook my head with a frown. "None. I've never done anything like that before."

He squinted at me momentarily before leaning back and crossing his arms. "You were upset; do you think it was an adrenaline thing?"

"Maybe," I said with a shrug.

He pursed his lips in thought for a moment before sitting up to lean in close again. "I still think you should try some blood, just to see."

I blinked down at the food before me, suddenly losing my appetite. "I'm not sure I want to do that, Damon. I've never had the blood lust, but what if trying it sparks one in me? I don't want to have to be dependent on it if I don't have to be. I don't want to have to resist the urge to kill everyone important to me. Honestly, I don't know how you and Stefan stand it. Considering how hard of a time I have saying no to chocolate, I can't imagine resisting something that you are drawn to on instinct by your very nature."

He watched me closely, his eyes scanning my face before drifting back to my eyes. "Most people don't really think about that part. It's very true, well in my case at least. I don't think Stefan struggles with it as much as I do because he doesn't enjoy it like I do. I spent so many years with my emotions shut off, that I grew to love the hunt. It made me feel vital and alive. This will probably send you away screaming, but even after everything, after feeling again, after CARING again, I still miss it. It's like I'm torn in two between my nature and my desire to be good enough for Stefan, and Elena…and YOU. Sometimes it's like hell on Earth."

I blinked back tears as I listened to him. I knew that the things he just admitted to me should have me running for the hills with repulsion, but instead all I felt was compassion. I stood up from my seat and he ducked his head with a forlorn sigh that died on his lips when instead of me running away from him, I walked to stand next to his seat, running my hand through his hair.

"I'm sorry that it's so hard for you. I can't imagine how difficult it must be. I don't think I could ever give myself over to that nature, so I would never love it, but I can see how after so many years alone, without anyone to provide a moral compass, it would be easy to just let go. I don't hold that against you, but if you want to be a part of my life, I need you to keep trying…okay?"

As soon as my hand touched his head, he looked up in surprise, leaning into my touch. I watched tears form in his eyes as he listened to me. His eyes laced with pain during my wrap up, but I was relieved to see him close his eyes and nod. "I'll try…for you."

I smiled and moved my hand to caress his cheek. "Thank you, Damon. That's all I can ask."

My heart shifted in my chest as the iceberg walling it in for safety shattered into a million pieces in the face of his confession. I cupped his face between my hands before slowly lowering my face to his, letting my lips brush his softly. My chest ached with the deliciousness of the contact as Damon sighed against my lips. His hands softly moved to capture my face as I had his, his fingers tangling in my hair as our kiss grew stronger. When his tongue teased along my top lip, I opened to him without hesitation. The world felt like it stopped as we shared breath, his sweet tongue invading my mouth, exploring softly, almost reverently. When he pulled away, we were both breathing heavily as we stared into one another's eyes. Damon blinked three times before finally whispering out, "Well that's different."

I cocked my head and gave a questioning look that made him smile, his blue eyes dancing behind heavy lids. "Hard to explain…but you make me _want _to be better."

I smiled before licking my lips and kissing him again, this time with me taking the role of aggressor in the kiss, letting the passion I could feel him bringing forward in me loose in the kiss. He hummed into my mouth, his arm sliding around my waist to pull me closer moments before I pulled away with a smile. "I guess we're both changing."

He smiled up at me before nodding toward my plate. "You better eat the rest of that sewage before it gets cold."

I smirked down at him, running my hand through his hair. "Maybe now I'm hungry for something better than Casserole."

His eyes twinkled as he squeezed my waist before releasing me. "Plenty of time for that later, now eat. We need to keep you healthy."

I snickered before leaning down to kiss his forehead as his hand splayed against my lower back to hug me to him before he released me. I moved back to my seat, settling in and digging into my food, suddenly feeling ravenous, as if I hadn't eaten in years. Damon watched me with raised brows as I finished off my first portion and then had him pass me his plate so I could keep his serving from going to waste. By the time I was finished I was miserably full and quite happy.

Damon looked surprised as he moved to clear the plates. "Definitely not a, 'I'll just take a salad' girl, are you?" I giggled at his high pitched squeak as he imitated girls of dates past.

I stood up to pick up the serving dish with a wink. "I think we've already established that I'm like no girl you've ever known before, Damon, so it really shouldn't surprise you."

He snorted before leading the way into the kitchen where we quickly washed up the dishes and put them away before heading back upstairs.

"Do you want to hang out for a while?" Damon asked, a heretofore unseen hopefulness in his request.

I glanced into my room where my bag full of work waited for me. "I really need to do some grading." When his face fell, I took his hand. "If you wanted to read or something, maybe we could hang out while I'm working?"

I wanted to laugh when his face lit up like a kid at Christmas. "Sounds good…where do you want to work?"

I shrugged. "I was just going to spread out in my room, unless you have a better suggestion."

I saw his eyes flash and knew what thought had just occurred to him. I smirked and shook my head. "No monkey business, Mr. Salvatore. I really need to get work done."

He smirked back at me before nodding. "I'll be right back." He leaned down to kiss my lips sweetly before disappearing in a black blur down the hallway.

I giggled before turning to go into my room only to find Katherine standing there, glaring at me.

"Well isn't that sweet. You're ruining him. He was just getting interesting and now you're turning him back into the puppy dog that followed me around over a hundred and forty years ago. It's sad really."

I glared right back. "Oh why don't you lose your ring and go take a long walk at dawn, Katherine? Why are you even still here? I know as well as you do that you're not here to help anybody, and nobody wants you here. So why, Katherine? Why hang around?"

She moved in closer, her eyes darkening with power. "I could ask the same of you, Rebekah." She cocked her head and crossed her arms over her chest. "Seems to me that nobody _escapes _Klaus, well, besides me that is. So how is it that you made it here without being captured? Did you come here or were you sent?"

I matched her posture except I had a smirk on my face. "Oh wouldn't you love to know, Katherine…now get the hell out of my room and don't come back."

"Or you'll what? You have nothing special about you at all, so what are you going to do to me?"

With a speed I didn't even know I possessed, I yanked the hidden stake from the waistband of my pants that I kept on hand just in case she decided to show out and had it poised at her heart. "Oh, I don't know, but I can think of a few things."

Her eyes widened before they narrowed again. "Sneaky, sneaky, but two can play at that game."

She disappeared in a blur of brown hair leaving me staring at an open door to my room. With a groan, I started to walk in only to halt when a pair of arms latched around my waist, pulling me tight to a solid chest. I smiled as his mouth moved near my ear.

"That was so hot. That was pretty damn fast. Another new ability?"

I closed my eyes, savoring the feeling of his warm body against mine. Finally, I sucked in a slow breath and nodded. My voice sounded breathy and foreign. "Yeah, I've never…yeah."

He chuckled before maneuvering us into my room and closing the door behind him. He turned me to face him and kissed me deeply, stealing my breath and making my heart pound. After far too short of a time he pulled away resting his forehead against mine.

"I guess you better get to work if you want to get all of that done."

I whimpered before nodding. "Guess so."

Slowly, he released me from his grip and led me to the bed where my bag waited for me before moving to sit on the white loveseat in front of the fireplace and cracking open one of the books from his bedroom. He looked up to find me staring and smirked before nodding to my papers.

"Don't let _me _distract you. I'll be here waiting when you're done."

I smiled and nodded before moving to sit cross-legged in the middle of the bed before pulling out the piles of papers and stacking them around me along with my army of colored pens. With a sigh, I picked up the first stack, a quiz from my afternoon English Lit course, and began to scan the answers. I forced myself to stay focused on the paper in front of me, but still unable to resist stealing glances at the beautiful man reading in front of the fireplace just a few feet away.


	8. Chapter 8

_**Author's Note: You guys are quickly catching up on all I've written so far. Two more chapters till you'll have to start waiting on updates, but I have to get focused on finishing the book and I've been feeling some Carpal Tunnel twinges so I forced myself to take last night off. At any rate, hope you enjoy the update. Thanks as always to MissSherrie, Elohcin, and my WC friends for their support and advice.**_

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Chapter 8

I'm not sure when I fell asleep, but I woke up as the sun began shining brightly through my unshaded window. I lifted my hand to shield my eyes before looking around the room in confusion. I was pretty sure I fell asleep grading, since I didn't remember putting my papers away or climbing under the covers, yet that's where I was, no sign of my papers anywhere.

I sat up and blinked around the room, freezing when my eyes landed on Damon's form, head propped back on the top of the loveseat in his slumber, mouth wide open. He'd stayed all night and I'd fallen asleep on him. I felt horrible.

I got up and began to tiptoe to the end of my bed to find my papers piled neatly in front of him, all graded with a blocky script that appeared very masculine. My heart melted as I realized he'd tucked me in and finished grading my papers for me. I looked up from the stack to see him staring at me with hazy blue eyes.

"You graded my papers for me?"

He shrugged. "I kept you busy too late with dinner and the tour, and when you fell asleep while grading, I figured the least I could do was finish it up for you. I'd forgotten how plebian secondary school essays can be. That was painful."

I chuckled picking up the Freshman level essay questions from Act 5 of Romeo and Juliet. I scanned his comments and his apparent standards for grading and they seemed resonable. I still planned to skim the rest before handing them back just to make sure he was completely fair. I set down the paper with a smile and moved to lean down, kissing his cheek sweetly.

"Thank you…thank you for grading and for sticking around last night. After that little encounter with Katherine, I was feeling a little on edge."

He smiled knowingly before standing and stretching. "I'd figured something like that. It's fine. I have all day to sleep while you're slaving away at the school. Speaking of, I'm going to go pass out while you get ready. See you back here after?"

I smiled and nodded but turned away, giving him my cheek as he leaned down to kiss me. He paused and gave me the raised eyebrow to which I responded behind my hand, "morning breath."

He rolled his eyes and yanked my hand away before planting his lips firmly on mine. I only remained tense a second before I finally relaxed, enjoying how his hands rubbed slowly up and down my back. He rested his head against mine reminding me in a whisper to have a good day before leaving me alone to clean up and get dressed for the day.

I got ready in short order and had everything ready to go, leaving the house a full twenty minutes early, only to open the door and find myself face to face with Katherine. She sneered at me with her arms propped on her hips. "It's only an infatuation. It will pass soon enough. When he realizes he can have me again, he'll be crawling on his hands and knees for me to take him back. Just you watch."

I rolled my eyes as I moved past her, closing the door behind me. "If you're what he really wanted, then I wouldn't stand in his way, but I get the sneaking suspicion that he has your number now. I doubt he'd be as easy to lure back as you think."

She dropped her arms and made her face innocent and sweet. "Even if I was Elena?" She cocked her head in an innocent look at her feet, doing an impressive impression of my niece. "Because I suspect that if Elena decided that her heart lies with Damon instead of Stefan, he'd have no problem following his heart."

I scoffed and licked my lips. "You're good, but you're not that good. If he wants me, he'll choose me. If he doesn't then he'll choose you. There's not a whole lot I can do about it, but I have faith that there's a lot more to Damon than you realize and that he's done a lot of growing up in the last century and a half. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a reason to get up in the morning as a productive member of society. See you after school."

I could feel her beady eyes burning a hole in my back as I walked away, so I palmed my stake just as a precaution, but thankfully, she didn't bother me further. I walked out the front door and down to my car, waiting for me under the portico. I smiled as I climbed behind the wheel and started it before going off to another day of school.

Apparently my mood swing from the morning before to today was giving my students whiplash as the Freshmen sat quietly in their seats with the eyes of deer in headlights, waiting for me to go back to the uberbitch. As a reward for everyone getting their assignments done, I gave them class time to read the next portion for study to themselves and answer the study questions while I looked over their essays. I then set aside the last twenty minutes of class to go over the answers in hopes of preparing them for the pop quiz I had planned for the next day.

I was equally as nice to my upper level classes, giving them their midterm essay assignments and allotting them over half the class time to outline and prepare while they had me at their disposal to ask for suggestions. They were a good portion of their grade and I wanted to make sure to set them up for success.

I was still working on grading the last of the Freshman essays when my phone vibrated halfway through class. I flipped it open under my desk when I saw the message was from Damon, fighting hard not to laugh as I read the frantic message in all caps.

JUST WOKE UP TO FIND KATHERINE HALF NAKED IN MY BED TRYING TO PRETEND TO BE ELENA. I KICKED HER ASS OUT BUT NOT BEFORE SHE MENTIONED YOU CHALLENGING HER. WHAT THE F IS UP, BEK?

I glanced up to see if anyone was paying attention before typing back a quick reply, promising to call during lunch, only to smile wider when he replied that he'd just come see me during lunch, and asked what I wanted him to bring me.

I responded and thanked him before doing a little happy dance with my feet under my desk before rolling my eyes at myself. I glanced up to see several students giving me funny looks and Stefan smiling at me like I just told him he won the lottery. I winked at him before looking back down at my essays.

Stefan came up to my desk under the guise of asking me a question just before class ended. His Cheshire cat-like smile made me blush.

"So what's got you so happy today?"

I smirked at him before telling him it was a long story I'd share later, but I had something he needed to see. I slipped him my phone with the string of texts between Damon and myself that morning showing. I watched his eyes grow wide before his face started going red, is lips fighting to keep the laugh bubbling within him from coming out.

"What challenge?" he finally whispered when he had himself under control. I told him the story of my morning confrontation with Katherine which left him chuckling and shaking his head.

"You know sometimes I'm not entirely sure what we ever saw in her."

I smiled knowingly. "She was a girl who put out in 1864. I think that would sum it up, but if you needed more, she was and is a pathological liar with a flair for the sociopathic. I'm guessing it wasn't too hard to convince you of whatever she wanted. You weren't the first or the last, I'm sure."

He sighed and nodded his agreement just as the bell rang. The class emptied, leaving only Stefan to gather his things when Damon appeared with a bright smile and a bag of take out. Stefan looked up at him and smiled again before turning to wink at me before disappearing into the hallway.

Damon sauntered up, sitting the food on my desk before moving to stand in front of me, tipping my face up for a kiss. "You seem to be in a much, much better mood today, Miss Gilbert. Pray tell, what brought on this mood swing?"

I smirked at him, moving a hand up his coat covered bicep. "I couldn't tell you, Mr. Salvatore, I assure you."

He narrowed his eyes at me before another smile broke out across his face. "Should we eat before you tell me what the hell possessed you to challenge Katherine to seduce me?"

I nodded, reaching for the bag and pulling out the long sub sandwich handing it to Damon before reaching in again to get my own and sitting on the edge of the desk next to him. "Well, first off, I didn't really challenge her. She appeared at my door this morning when I was leaving for work telling me about how you were just infatuated with me and when it passed you'd come crawling back to her. So I told her that if that was what you truly wanted I wouldn't stop you, but I thought you saw her for what she really was and weren't fooled by her anymore. Then she put on her Elena act and asked if that would still be true even if she were Elena. I told her you'd never fall for it and I had faith in you. I guess she accepted it as a challenge. Sorry."

I looked over to see him staring down at me, that softness was in his eyes again before it morphed into dancing amusement. "Don't be sorry, that's actually hilarious. I can't believe she tried it. Uh…thanks, by the way."

I took a bite as he said it so instead of speaking I lifted my eyebrow in question. He looked at me, his cheeks pinking up slightly. "For having faith in me."

I nodded before resting my head against his arm and taking another bite. Far too quickly, lunch ended and Damon had to leave, but I promised to get home as soon as I could. He kissed me just as the bell rang before disappearing before my first student entered. Not surprising, my afternoon was even better than my morning had been.

After work, I spent the evening hanging out with Damon, Elena, and Stefan. Thankfully, Katherine was nowhere to be found. Damon even helped me grade what was left of my papers while Stefan and Elena did homework. That night, Damon camped out on the love seat again. I really wanted to tell him he didn't have to stay there and could share the bed with me, but every time I opened my mouth to say it, I chickened out.

The next week was more or less the same as the one before. Matter of fact, life in general seemed to have evened out in a nice little calm before the storm and I decided I was going to savor it.

The following Friday brought with it midterms and a teacher's social at the Grill after work. As I'd pretty much let my life revolve around work and Damon, I decided it was a nice idea to go along. There was one thing I hadn't counted on though…Jenna.

As a guest of Rick, who had more or less avoided me after our run in the day Damon moved me into his house, she cornered me within ten minutes of walking in the front doors.

"What is going on with you, Bekah? I haven't seen you at all since you've been here, and Rick told me you MOVED IN with Damon Salvatore? What in the world?"

I cringed at the disdain in her voice. I knew she didn't know and would never understand, and so things looked even worse than they were, and I had no clue how to reply.

"It's a lot more complicated than that, Jenna. It's hard to explain."

She rolled her eyes. "How complicated can the fact that you moved in with a man be? You just met him!"

People were starting to stare, some listening in with big noses and bigger mouths. Grabbing Jenna by the arm, I tugged her into a quiet corner.

"It's not really like that, Jenna. I'm not sharing a room with him or anything. I have my own room down the hall from his and we haven't even shared a bed…I swear. He just didn't like the place I was staying in, so he talked me into renting a room from him and Stefan. WAY nicer place for the same rent I was paying my landlord for 1/3 of the square footage I have in the bedroom of the Salvatore house alone, so I took him up on it."

Okay, so it was a lie, but I had to tell her something more plausible than 'I'm a half-breed vampire and he thought I would be safer with my own kind, sharing a house with three vampires and on more occasion than I care to think about, my niece.' Yeah, that would have gone over about as well as a lead balloon.

"Well, Rick said that the two of you seemed awful cozy, and more than friends."

I rolled my eyes and sighed. "We've been on a date and kissed, okay? I'll admit that much. Is that such a crime?"

"When he's a playboy, yes. I mean, you don't know anything about him. Just five seconds ago, he was dating my friend Andie, and then all of a sudden he dumps her out of the blue at the beginning of last week and is dating you. It just reeks of player and you haven't been back long enough to know that yet. He's handsome, but he's far more the type of guy I usually fall for instead of you. You were always too observant to fall for their tricks. You saw right through the bullshit to the asshole underneath. So I have to think that your radar must be broken this time, because Damon Salvatore is BAD news!"

I nibbled my bottom lip as I listened, not really hearing the rest after the part where he had a girlfriend until sometime last week. I felt a pang of guilt in my stomach. Did he dump this poor girl for me? Was she the last infatuation he had before he moved on? Katherine's taunt echoed in my mind. I had dismissed her right away, but something niggled deep inside me, making me question if she hadn't been all wrong.

"I…I didn't know he had been seeing anyone. Nobody mentioned a thing about it to me…even Elena. Is she heartbroken?"

Jenna frowned into her cup, turning it in her palms. "Not at all actually, but I know she must just be hiding it, because she was crazy about him. They spent a lot of time together and even threw a dinner party at his house a few weeks back when that historical author, Elijah Smith, was in town. She seemed head over heels and I suddenly didn't feel so bad about introducing them when she begged me to do it, and then it was just over without any warning and she's fine with it. It just…doesn't compute."

I stiffened when she mentioned Elijah Smith, knowing he was the same Elijah I knew and hated. I tried to ignore it for now and deal with the issue at hand. "That is odd, but if she doesn't seem upset about it…"

"You don't understand, Bek. It's almost as if she forgot she loved him in the first place, like they were just friends or something."

Her phone began buzzing and she asked me to wait while she checked it. She lifted it almost in triumph. "What do you know, she texted to say she was here. Come on. I want you to meet her."

I followed Jenna in a daze as she led me through the crowd to a gorgeous woman with long brown hair. She was almost model-like in her perfection and I felt my stomach turn. If this had been Damon's last girlfriend and he'd tired of her…what would keep him from tiring of me?

I watched as Jenna greeted the beauty and introduced her to me before explaining I was Damon's new girlfriend. I saw the intelligence in her eyes glaze as her responses changed, feeling less like the girl I'd just met and more like an automated response.

"We had a nice time together, but honestly, I always knew it was just casual. I have bigger dreams than Mystic Falls and I have a feeling he's not one to enjoy the big city where I hope to end up some day. It was just as well we ended now."

Jenna shook her head. "Andie, it was just three weeks ago you were talking about soul mates and how pretty your babies would be. How could you change your mind so completely in such a short time?"

Confusion flooded her face before the cloud came back and she shrugged. "That's life I guess. We live, we love, we move on."

Cue my heart freezing mid-beat. I moved my hand to rub over the icy hole there. If I didn't already suspect Damon had used compulsion on her, that phrase confirmed it, as Damon had said those exact same words to me just a couple of nights before when talking about how he would never love Katherine again knowing now what he didn't know then.

I looked around the room before looking back to Jenna and Andie. "I'm sorry to be rude, but I gave some major assignments to my students this week and have a foot high pile of mid-term essays to grade. I really need to get home and get started or I'm never going to get them done. I'm glad we got to catch up, Jenna. Give me a call on my cell and we'll have supper sometime soon."

She looked at me sadly before nodding. I pushed my way through the busy room toward the door only to come face to chest with Damon. I looked up at him to find him smiling down at me, but at that point, I was too angry to return it. Instead, I grabbed his arm and tugged him with me through the front door into the now dark street beyond.

"How could you?" I seethed at him, standing toe to toe with him and glaring up at his confused face.

"What did _I _do? I just got here."

I sucked my teeth before planting my hands on my hips. "I have two words for you…Andie. Star."

He curled up one side of his lip and crinkled his brow down at me in the classic 'what are you getting at crazy woman' look of his before dragging out a long, "Sooooo?"

"So, YOU were dating her until you met me and then you _compelled_ her to fall out of love with you, as if nothing ever happened between you. That poor girl, how could you Damon? That's just wrong on so many levels."

Damon stiffened in front of me, his hands balling at his side.

"Oh and now you're getting mad at me for calling you out on pulling shit like that? Please! I knew you were an asshole, but come on!"

"That is the past, Bekah. That was before you, so how can you get angry about something that doesn't concern you?"

My eyes bugged as I stared up at him. "Was before me? Doesn't _concern _me? Damon this happened all of five seconds ago. You broke things off with her two days after you met me. How can you say this doesn't concern me? Did you break up with that girl just so you could pursue me? God, am I some kind of homewrecker?"

Damon rolled his eyes before tugging me further away from the Grill. "You can't wreck a home when there was no home to being with. It was casual…just sex to let off some steam. It was never going to be a happily ever after, and she knew that."

"Oh she did, did she? Then why was she spouting happy little scenarios to Jenna about soul mates and babies with Salvatore eyes and raven hair, Damon? That doesn't sound like she believed it was casual to me at all."

His eyes narrowed and his jaw flexed as he leaned in closer, his nostrils flaring to match the flames in his eyes. "What do you want me to do about it, Bekah? Did I compel her to care about me so I could enjoy her body? Yes, yes, I did. And when I realized that you were someone I'd rather spend my time with, did I compel her to move on and enjoy her life without feeling sad about ending our little arrangement? Yes, I did. It may not have been the nicest thing in the world to do, but I've told you before, I'm not a nice guy. I'm trying, but I don't always succeed. If you can't handle that, then you should cut your losses and rid yourself of me now, because I can guarantee you that I'm not going to be perfect."

With that he turned, stalking off into the night, leaving me alone in the dark street only about ten feet from my car. I sighed, hugging my waist and feeling very conflicted. I was still angry, but could I blame him for something he did before he was with me? Even if it was wrong?


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note: I'm giving this to you a little early. Sometime tomorrow I will post 10 and then you will be caught up to what I've written so far and things will have to slow down.**

**I wrote this out of sequence temporarily naming it Damon Lemon lol, needless to say, this chapter is going to earn our rating, so read ahead with caution. I hope you enjoy the story! I do not own the rights to the Lifehouse songs mentioned in this chapter, You and Me, Everything, and First Time. Link to the playlist: .com/view_play_list?p=868A8546C4DAF86C (www. youtube. com/view_play_list?p=868A8546C4DAF86C)**

**A big thanks to MissSherrie, Elohcin, and my WC girls who thoroughly enjoyed this chapter. Three of them knew absolutely nothing about the show and still loved it. ;)**

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Chapter 9

I lay alone in my bed staring at my ceiling. After our argument, Damon didn't come home. I don't know where he went, but he wasn't here. I sighed, resting my forearm over my eyes wondering if I wasn't being fair. In all honesty, his relationship with Andie, if you can even call it that, was before he even knew me. He broke up with her after the second night he met me. He'd already told me that he wanted to be better for me. Maybe that was a step in that process? Either way, no matter his motives, I didn't really have a valid reason to be angry, it just bothered me that he could do that to that poor woman. And worse yet, due to his compulsion, she didn't even KNOW she'd been used. He just brainwashed her into being fine with it, as if he hadn't used her body and tossed her aside when he grew tired of her.

I groaned and rolled over, realization hitting for the first time where my anger was really coming from. If it was so easy to toss her aside, then what would keep him from getting rid of me when he got sick of me…just like Katherine had hinted? Katherine and her poison strikes again.

I rolled over again and sighed, a tear trickling down my cheek. Why did love have to hurt so much? That's what it was. Even after such a short time, I already loved Damon. I loved him in spite of his faults, in spite of the darkness inside him, and yet, I still didn't know how much of that was returned by him. I knew it wasn't smart…but half the time people love others that they shouldn't. The heart wants what the heart wants, and mine wanted Damon. I wanted Damon regardless of his past, even if it was the recent past. I could tell he was trying…trying for us…trying for ME. He needed to be given credit for that, didn't he?

I was driving myself crazy with all my back and forth, I didn't hear a sound until suddenly music began playing from down the hall…a hall full of unoccupied rooms with the exception of the room Damon stayed in and my own. I listened more closely, feeling more confused when I heard Lifehouse coming from the direction of Damon's room.

I got up and walked to the door, opening it just as the music got louder. The words echoed down the hallway toward me.

_All of the things that I want to say just aren't coming out right. I'm tripping on words. You've got my head spinning. I don't know where to go from here. 'Cause it's you and me and all of the people with nothing to do, Nothing to prove. And it's you and me and all other people. And I don't know why, I can't keep my eyes off of you. _

I took in a slow breath before taking a step toward his room and then turning around and going back into my room, closing the door behind me before opening it, and going down the hall to knock on his door. He turned the sound down a little before answering the door, his eyes kind of flat as he stood there in nothing but boxers.

I swallowed hard before I started rambling at the same time another song started. "Listen…I wanted to apologize. I shouldn't have flipped out on you so much; it just bothered me that you could treat someone like that. It made me think I might be next and that's not really fair, but that's just how my mind works because I'm a girl. I may be an odd and different girl, but I'm still one and we think in circles. Anyway, I just wanted to tell you that I was sorry for being so belligerent."

He stared at me, his face beginning to betray what he was really feeling around the edges of his mask. "You said that my past was in my past. If you can't say that and mean it then this is never going to work, because there are far worse skeletons in my past than Andie Star."

I nibbled my lip and nodded. "I know."

He leaned against the door jamb. "Do you? Because I'll tell you right now, Bekah. _This_…this is NOTHING in comparison with some of the things I've done over the past century and a half…and if you can't handle _this_…"

I nibbled on my bottom lip. "I know."

"Really, Bekah? Can you really deal with it?"

I swallowed and nodded.

His face hardened. "I don't believe you, Bekah. Go think about it a little more and see if you can actually manage to say it out loud next time and maybe I'll believe you."

He closed the door in my face, leaving me standing in the hall. I stood there staring at the dark wood for a long time before I turned to walk back to my room, making it about halfway there when I heard the music change again. It was another Lifehouse song…my favorite Lifehouse song. I froze and listened the first verse begin, getting louder again as he turned back up the music to drown out the world.

_Find me here. And Speak to me. I want to feel you. I need to hear you._

_You are the light that's leading me to the place where I find peace again._

My bottom lip quivered as the tears slid down my cheeks before falling to the floor. Then, before I knew what I was doing, I was running back to his door, pounding on it with my fist.

"Damon, let me in. I can…I do. I can handle it. I know it's part of your past, and it's behind you."

There was no response. I rested my head against the door and let the tears fall before I whispered into the wood. "I…I just want to be with you. I…I love you."

The door flew open almost making me tumble into the room before revealing Damon staring down at me with the most intense gaze I'd ever seen.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, about everything…yes."

He stared at me in silence as the song played behind him.

_You are the Light to my soul. You are my purpose, you're everything._

_And how can I stand here by you and not be moved by you? Can you tell me how can it be any better than this? Yeah…._

"I want you more than anything in my whole life, more than Elena, more than Katherine, more than life itself, but I need you to be able to live with my past."

"I can…I promise."

More silent staring…

_You Calm the storms and you give me rest. You hold me in your hands. You won't let me fall._

_You still my heart and you take my breath away. Would you take me in? Take me deeper now?_

I waited patiently, listening to the words and hoping he believed me. I wanted so badly for him to just hold me. As the bridge played again, my tears fell harder as I thought he was going to turn me away again after staring at me in silence for what seemed like an eternity. Just as I was about to give up and went to turn away, he grabbed my arm and pulled me into his room as the chorus began in a crecendo, the door slamming behind him as he wrapped me in his arms, attacking my lips as he crushed me against the wall. His distinctive scent of sandalwood and citrus floated around me and through me as I melted into him, savoring every touch of his lips and tongue as our bodies aligned so perfectly it made me want to die in bliss.

'_Cause you're all I want, you're all I need, you're Everything! Everything!_

_You're all I want, all I need, you're Everything! Everything! _

"I love you, Bekah," he finally panted as he broke from our kiss to stare into my eyes. "I do. I don't know how it happened, but I do."

My tears continued to fall, but now from a happiness I didn't know existed until I heard those words from his lips. "I love you, too, Damon. So much."

He lifted a hand to caress my cheek as the song continued on before lowering his mouth to mine, starting off soft and reverent before the kiss grew in heat and intensity. It went on and on as the song repeated the words over and over that I felt so deep inside me. Time seemed to stop, the only thing demarking its passing was the continuation of the song from the speakers. The song changed to another Lifehouse song that made me smile.

"I never pictured you as a Lifehouse listener," I whispered knowingly as First Time started.

I listened to the lyrics that seemed to be describing us to a tee as he kissed my lips softly before whispering. "A birdie told me you loved them so I got it for you."

"So this was audio bait?"

His eyes sparkled as he looked down at me. "Started off that way, but it does actually fit, doesn't it?"

We listened to the lyrics a moment, speaking of how much easier it was to hide than to let someone else inside, but how it made us feel alive to let it just happen, like being in love for the first time.

I nodded as I nibbled my lip until Damon growled, pulling it free before sucking on it gently. "I want to do that." I moaned as ever so gently he scraped his teeth over the sensitive flesh, being careful not to hurt me, sending shocks of pleasure through my body like nothing I'd felt before. I'd been intimate with guys before, but this was something new and completely different.

Reciprocating his action, I did the same with his lip. His moan in response reverberated throughout my whole body, fueling a fire inside me that wanted to consume and be consumed by him.

"Oh God!" I gasped, resting my forehead against his collarbone, his scent flooding me with every inhale and exhale.

"What _is _that?" he panted into my neck, nuzzling his nose into the nook where my neck met my shoulder, sending chills through the core of me.

"I don't know. I've never felt anything like it."

He lifted his head to look at me. His eyes were practically glowing in the dark, sending shivers down my spine. He lifted a finger and trialed it from the top of my forehead, down the bridge of my nose to my lips, a tingling trail followed his touch. He drifted his finger over my lips slowly, the pleasure of his touch growing in intensity with each pass until I could no longer stand it, sucking his finger between my lips. I twirled my tongue around it before running my teeth down it as I pulled it from my mouth. All the while Damon panted in my face, his eyes focused on his finger.

With vampire speed, he grabbed my thighs, lifting me to wrap my legs around his waist as his mouth found mine again, needful and demanding as he dashed us to his bed. My hands laid claim to his hair, burying deep in his soft raven locks and grabbing them, pulling him closer because no matter how close he was, it wasn't close enough. I needed him inside me. I couldn't explain the compulsion as it was like nothing I had ever experienced before, but it was as if my soul demanded his and would accept nothing less.

The next steps were a blur as my flannel pajama shirt was unbuttoned and removed in a flash, leaving my upper body exposed for Damon's hands and mouth to explore. His hands were bliss, but his mouth was like heaven, as if every taste of my skin brought me ever closer to orgasm without any contact in the areas I normally needed it to bring on release.

My hands were busy too, moving from Damon's hair to explore the contours of his muscular back and shoulders before flying back to his hair to tug tightly when his tongue found my breast, twirling around my nipple in deliciously delightful waves. I arched on the bed and called out his name, making him moan against my flesh as his lips closed over the hardened peak and to my total shock, I climaxed with more intensity than I'd ever felt before as Damon stared up at me through his lashes and continued to manipulate me. His eyes were dark and intense, almost primal.

He pulled away, his gaze never wavering as he lowered himself on top of me to claim my lips. I gasped into his mouth as his body came to rest on top of mine, revealing to me exactly how affected he was as well. My body rose on instinct to move against his like a wave as his tongue invaded my mouth, seeking, demanding, taking.

When I moved against him again, he arched his back and closed his eyes, the bliss on his face making my head swim. "I don't know what this is, but I can't get enough," he growled shifting his hips against mine, pushing me toward the edge again. He looked down at me and I could see his fight for restraint.

"I need you. I need you so damn bad, but if you want to say no, you need to do it now." He closed his eyes looking as if he were almost in pain mumbling "Oh god, please don't say no."

I moved against him again, gasping before reaching my hands up to force his eyes back to mine. "I need you too. I couldn't say no if I wanted to, and I DON'T want to!"

His mouth flew to mine, taking completely as his hands moved in a flash to push away my pants and his boxers leaving us both completely exposed. The smells in the air mixed and combined, his sandalwood and citrus so strong it made my heart dance with excitement, blending with my own arousal to create something so erotic to me that it almost felt dangerous and toxic.

He paused and pulled back to lock eyes with me, his gaze intense, but also holding a softness I had come to know and love. I nodded, moving my hands up to cup his face as he entered me. We both cried out as I arched against him, again instinct making it never close enough. We stared at each other as we moved together, instincts and emotions taking over all conscious thought, but I could feel it in our touch, smell it in our union, the lust and love combined in one unfathomable brew that was like the most potent drug in existence.

My cries became louder as I felt my body quake at its core, my muscles tensing from my toes to the top of my head, winding tighter and tighter to the point that I feared I might snap in two. I felt a tingle in my mouth and a longing in my soul and as I fell over the edge in the most all-encompassing climax of my existence, another instinct took over as I leaned up and bit the place where Damon's neck and shoulder's joined.

My mouth filled with a sweet ambrosia that took my climax to a new height as I lost vision. Damon cried out in pleasure as he emptied into me, his body pulling me ever closer. I felt success as if I were finally complete. He was no longer too far away because he was literally a part of me, coursing through my body, filling my veins from head to toe.

As my body found its final release, I removed my suction on Damon's neck, instinctively licking the two puncture wounds I had somehow created, encouraging the wound to close as Damon held me to him softly, caressing my hair.

My body melted onto the mattress behind me, Damon melting beside me, his hands caressing the curves of my skin as he stared into my eyes. My body trembled from the overload of emotions and sensations, the tingle on my skin and inside my mouth fading as a soothing warmth spread all through me.

Damon's hand moved to caress my face, his eyes so soft and tender it made me want to cry harder than the soft tears that trickled over my cheeks to wet the pillow behind my head. As I came down from my bliss, reality began to settle in and my eyes widened.

"Oh, God. I bit you. I'm so sorry."

He shook his head as his fingers moved to cover her lips, drifting across them softly. "No…Don't, I'm not. I will never be sorry for that. It was amazing."

"But Damon, I BIT you, I drank from you. I didn't even know I could do that. I."

He smiled, leaning down to kiss my lips softly before drifting kisses up my nose and forehead and then back to my lips.

"It was instinct and it was stronger than either of us."

I took in a deep breath and moved my hand to my mouth, relieved to find my fangs were gone, making Damon chuckle. "You know enough to know that they'll only come out when you go to feed, silly girl."

I sighed. "Nothing about me is normal. I thought I better check. It was so strange. I never felt a need like that. I think I needed your blood inside me. I kept holding you as close as I could and it was never enough, even after you _were_ inside me. Now I…I feel…complete."

His soft smile widened as his hand continued to caress and explore my body.

"Is…is that normal? I mean, for vampire sex. Is it always like that?"

Damon's eyes morphed slightly before he shook his head. "I've NEVER experience anything like that before, human, vampire, doesn't matter. I've never felt that electricity, that pure bliss."

I smiled and blushed before reaching up to caress the lines of his face. "Well I can say with all certainty that the same is true for me. I've never come that hard, ever."

His eyes danced as did his eyebrows. "Say that again."

I smirked back, "THAT."

Damon laughed before rolling me under him to pin me to the mattress, his hands gripping mine above my head. "No, say _come _again like that because that was hella sexy."

I narrowed my eyes at him, wishing I could turn the tables on him yet knowing I…as soon as the thought passed through my mind our positions were switched, Damon looking shocked as hell below me as I straddled his waist, his hands pinned under mine above his head. I let go and sat up, blinking in confusion before looking around the room.

"How? What?"

Damon sat up and repositioned me on his lap, his head cocked to the side as he smiled at me. "Exactly what I suspected, you're getting stronger after drinking blood."

"But your blood isn't…"

He shook his head. "It's not like humans no, but it's similar, except it has the capacity to change humans or heal them, depending on the situation and whether or not they die with vamp blood in their systems. I also have another theory."

I raised my eyebrows for him to continue as he wrapped his arms around me, bringing me closer with a wicked smile on his face. "I think that thirty may be the time when you're going to transition into something more vampire-like, which is why the curse will be more affected by you then. A living being, with a beating heart, and a vampire's skills; it would make you quite the anomaly, for sure."

I nibbled my lip and stared down at him. "I'm always going to be a freak aren't I?"

He hugged me closer, his eyes dancing before his lips found the column of my neck, their caress beginning to build the tingling electricity inside me again. "There's nothing wrong with being a freak, as long as you're the right kind."

I smiled before capturing his face between my hands and leaning down to kiss him gently. "I love you," I whispered against his pink lips.

"I don't just love you, I…well, something a lot more than that."

My heart felt like it exploded inside my chest before I attacked his mouth with mine, claiming him completely, demanding all of him, and he gave to me freely. I positioned myself to join us again, pausing first to look him in the face.

"I want you to drink from me, Damon."

He looked at me in surprise. "Are you sure?"

I nodded. "I want to be a part of you in the same way that you are a part of me. I want to know if that feels as good to you as it does to me. Please, Damon."

He stared at my neck, tracing his fingers down the column following the line of my jugular before looking back at me with soft eyes. "It would be an honor."

I sank down onto him as he latched his mouth to my neck, puncturing my skin with his sharp teeth. I gasped and moaned, delighted by the sensual feeling giving blood provided. Damon moaned against my neck lifting his hips to meet mine as he drank deeply from me before licking the wound and pulling away to gaze up at me. His eyes looked dazed as he stared before blinking at me slowly.

"Oh God, that's…that's amazing."

I smiled before lowering myself to catch his lips. "Told you," I mumbled before allowing him to flip us again, letting him take the lead as he drove us over the edge of our climaxes together.

I lost track of how many times we came together that night, with only short breaks in between when he would hold me close, caressing my body in a worshipful and yet almost possessive manner that further served to turn me on. As dawn came Saturday morning, Damon threw on some clothes to sneak down to the kitchen and find a little food for us, as I was starting to feel a little hungry.

As soon as he left, I heard a soft knock at the door. I wrapped myself in the sheet and tiptoed over to peek through the door as I cracked it open. Elena stood outside, her eyes sparkling with a knowing look before her nose crinkled and she cringed. I nibbled my lip sheepishly before her smile came back.

"I just wanted to tell you I saw Damon and I swear he's like a different man. I've never seen him…happy…like REALLY HAPPY. I'm so happy for both of you."

I blushed before thanking her.

"I'll be around if you want to talk."

My eyes darted around the hall before I looked back to her. "Actually, I have some questions for you…questions I never thought in a million years I'd be asking my niece, but you're the only one I know who has experience with this."

She blushed and laughed before telling me we'd have a girl's night later. She disappeared down the hallway leaving me alone in Damon's room. I turned back around to take in the disaster left in our wake, smiling as I picked up our strewn clothes and the line of towels that led from the bathroom where we took a nice long bath in the freestanding tub that turned quite dirty. It was almost as if he'd sensed my daydreams from when he'd given me his tour and I first saw his room. I tossed the dirty clothes and towels down the laundry chute and climbed back on the bed just as the door opened revealing a smiling Damon carrying a tray heaped to overflowing with every breakfast food imaginable. I laughed before helping him sit down the tray and pull him onto the bed with me, feeding each other bites of muffins and fruit between stolen kisses and groping hands.

We finished out the weekend in much the same way, leaving me sad to leave his bed when Monday morning came. He apparently felt the same way as he followed me to my room, helped me shower, and watched me dress before following me to the front door with sad eyes. I hated leaving him, but life was about balance, and even if Damon Salvatore now had absolute rule over my heart and my body, I still needed to keep a piece of myself for me. So with a long sigh, I started the car and left him at home as I went to face another day of teenagers and day to day life.


	10. Chapter 10

_**Author's Note: I got another chapter almost done tonight, so I'll probably get a chance to get you one more chapter before we have a gap. Hope you enjoy this one. It answers a few questions that have been sort of left open and some of you guessed, you smart little cookies you! **_

_**Thanks to MissSherrie and Elohcin for prereading and pointing out my major oopsies. Hope you enjoy!**_

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**Chapter 10**

My mood was so good, half the school figured out without anyone whispering a word that I'd gotten laid over the weekend. This is how I ended up spending my Monday lunch holed up in my classroom with Elena, Bonne, and Caroline, gossiping while eating their lunches. I nibbled on a sandwich Damon handed me on my way out the door this morning while joining in on the fun.

"I still can't believe how much Damon has changed. Remember when he first came to town?" Caroline said, munching on some carrots and looking lost in memories.

I dropped my head on my desk. "Oh no, not her too."

Elena's crinkled nose told me all I needed to do, which led to the tiny bruise on my forehead from repeatedly banging my head against the hard wood until Elena stopped me.

"Carline's not exaggerating when she says Damon's changed. That was part of a scheme to get to me. It came to bite him in the ass when Caroline was changed and all of her memories came back."

I turned to Caroline cocking my head. "How _did _you come to be changed anyway?"

She rolled her eyes before all three girls said the single word in chorus, "Katherine."

I rolled my eyes, "Of course. I swear that crazy bitch is going to end up with a stake in her heart before this is all said and done…especially if she keeps creeping around my room and Damon."

Bonnie started giggling. "Oh yes, Stefan told us about the great Katherine seduction of 2011. I'm glad she fell flat on her face. That was great."

"The best part was Damon's reaction. It was priceless."

All three girls giggled, but it sort of gave me my in to bring up what I needed to ask Elena, and I guess Caroline too…considering. Ugh! I shivered and prayed no principals or school board members would happen to stumble in and overhear this next portion.

"Um, speaking of seductions, I have a question about…um…vampire sex. I guess this more goes toward Elena since Caroline's, ugh, _experience _was with Damon who already said that he'd never experienced anything like it before, but I just wanted to make sure. Uh…hum…when…when you and Stefan are…together."

The girls twittered before telling me to spit it out.

"When you're _with_ Stefan, does anything strange happen?"

Elena frowned at me, "Like?"

I licked my lips and blushed. "Like, electricity? Like an instinct to drink from each other? Like…um…climaxes so strong you nearly break the bed?"

All three girls stared with wide eyes before they all squealed and leaned in closer. "No! I mean it's great, but you're talking like supernatural super sex?"

I nodded making them all blink before they began twittering again. "No, nothing out of the ordinary at least…but you HAVE to tell us more."

I spent the next ten minutes trying to find words to describe what it was like, the need to be closer than close and how drinking from one another sates that need and fills us with comfort and warmth. All three girls looked dazed before Caroline groused and folded her arms. "Boy did I get the crap end of THAT stick. Definitely nothing like that with me."

Elena shook her head slowly. "Me either, but it sounds…amazing! So you actually GROW fangs?"

I nodded, nibbling my lip and feeling exposed again, but the girl's quickly tried to comfort me before moving on to other less awkward subjects. All too soon, the bell rang ending our little gossip session. With sad waves, they left me to deal with the room full of juniors. The afternoon went well and I was eager to get home to Damon.

He was all smiles when I got home, tugging me to the couch and kissing me for a long time before he finally let me loose.

"I have something I want you to try." From the side table he pulled out a water bottle filled with thick red blood and poured a small amount into a crystal whiskey glass. "I want to see if human blood has the same effects as mine did."

I looked at the yucky thick liquid warily before taking the glass. I sniffed it, my nose crinkling before pulling it away.

"Ugh, I don't think I can, Damon. It smells disgusting and just the thought of it makes me want to gag."

Damon frowned before lifting the glass to sniff and shrugging. "What are you talking about? It smells fine." He took a small sip and hummed. "Tastes fine too. Here, just try it."

I grimaced at the glass as I took it to my hand and raised it to my lips, tipping it very slightly to barely allow the thick red stuff to get to my lips. I peeked my tongue out for a taste before yanking the cup away from my face gagging. Damon asked if I was okay when I jumped up and ran for the kitchen, spitting into the sink before turning on the water and washing my mouth out under the cold flow, spitting several times to make sure my mouth was free from the disgusting liquid.

Finally satisfied that I was blood free, I opened the fridge and grabbed out my bottle of Merlot, pulling the cork and drinking straight from the bottle. Damon stood beside me looking completely baffled as he stared at the bottle of blood before taking another sip.

"It tastes fine. I don't know what the problem is."

"I know what the problem is…it's _blood."_

"Yeah, well you didn't have any problem drinking _blood_ this weekend." He replied making his typical Damon faces as he did, making me smile despite myself.

"That was different. I don't know how, but it was."

Damon cocked his head before crossing to my side of the counter and taking the merlot bottle from my hand, sitting it on the counter. He turned back to me, cupping my face in his hands.

"I'm glad, but I want to know what's going on with you. When Klaus comes, we want you as strong as possible. I don't want to have to worry about you not being able to defend yourself at all in the middle of everything."

I nodded and then he kissed me, sweetly, lovingly. The look on his face when he pulled away worried me though. "One more test, I'll keep the merlot right here just in case."

I frowned at him until he lifted his wrist to his mouth and bit. He extended his wrist to me in offering and I frowned at it until that smell, the essence of Damon, wafted up to me. I lowered my mouth to his wrist, cradling it in my hands as I suctioned my mouth to the wound, humming as the taste filled me. I looked up at him through my lashes, invigorated by the intense look of possession on his face. I took several long pulls before pulling away and licking the wound closed before licking my lips and teeth to savor every drop. The moment I was done, his lips were attached to mine again, probing, demanding, claiming. As a feminist, I probably shouldn't, but I loved the hell out of it.

When he finally pulled away, we were both panting and hot, wanting to run straight upstairs and fall into Damon's bed again, but knowing we shouldn't.

"So, why are you okay with my blood, but not perfectly good O negative?"

I sighed, wrapping myself around his chest, wishing we didn't have to worry about it. Damon's hands rubbed my back absentmindedly as the cogs worked in his head before he pulled back with a dangerous and angry look in his eyes.

"Either it's just my blood or it's vampire blood, and there's only one way to test that theory, but just the thought of it makes me want to _KILL_ somebody."

I leaned back in confusion. "What? Why?"

His nostrils flared as he stared into the distance behind me. "Because it will mean drinking from Stefan."

"Why does that make you want to _kill_ somebody?"

He looked down, his eyes filled with snark. "How would you feel if some chick, say Elena or Katherine were to drink from me?"

My vision went red and a kind of growl rose from my chest making him smile like a Cheshire Cat.

"Glad to see that the possession goes both ways. Like most predators, Vampires are very territorial over their kills and their…um…mates."

I cocked my head and narrowed my eyes at him as he took a breath. "It's not common in the vampire world to have true mating. As a rule the territorial over your kills thing sort of gets in the way of the mating thing, but thanks to my brother and his need to live here and be _all civilized_ I've mellowed out enough to lose some of that…maybe because it's hard to be possessive of a plastic bag."

He rolled his eyes before continuing. "Anyway, in the rare cases where two vampires can stand to be in one place long enough and begin bonding on something beyond the basic physical level, a deeper bond forms known as mating. I haven't run across a mated pair in over a hundred years though, but it happens. I'm starting to believe that's the case here. I researched the electricity last night, and while there's not much available, there were some things that made me think that it's a mark of mating."

I frowned up at him, feeling rather odd. "Mating…"

He smirked down at me, running his hands along my abdomen just under my shirt, the tingling trail already bringing on my arousal. "It sounds so _derogatory _when you say it that way. I don't think the thought of being bound to me is _that _bad, is it?"

I giggled, wrapping my arms around his neck and playing with the hair at the base of his skull. "Is that why I fell so hard so fast for a guy that for all intents and purposes is bad for me?"

He licked his lips as his hands slid down over my bottom to grab my thighs, pulling me up to wrap myself around him. "That or my natural sex appeal and charm."

I threw my head back and laughed. "Yeah…_Charm_…that's it."

He landed a smack on my right butt cheek before carrying me up the back staircase to his bedroom where we enthusiastically _mated_ twice before finally leaving the bedroom to eat supper and take care of my grading and other responsibilities. The discussion of me attempting to feed from Stefan didn't come up again that night.

Matter of fact, the issue was studiously avoided for two more nights before it resurfaced after midnight on Wednesday after I found unable to resist taking Damon's vein again. As we lay spent after reacting so strongly that we nearly broke the very sturdy bed, Damon finally sighed and brought up what he hadn't been able to stomach mentioning since Monday night.

"As much as the thought alone makes me want to tear his head off, we should do a test with Stefan's blood. The more we know, the better."

I rolled on my side, propping my head up on my arm as I ran my fingers along the ridges of his quite well shaped abs. "He's your brother, surely that should make it a little easier. It's not like he's some hot movie star I'll have my mouth all over." I chuckled at the rumble that rose from his chest.

"No, but seriously. Stefan is your brother and he's like a little brother to me too. For me the thought isn't even appetizing, much less alluring, and definitely NOT sexual…at all." I reflexively shivered at the very thought. Ugh!

Damon stared up at my eyes as his hand drifted across my arm that now rested on top of his stomach. "In my whole life, I only loved two women besides you, and both of them decided that they loved Stefan more than me, or didn't even love me at all. If that happened with you…"

He didn't get to finish that thought before my hand clamped over his mouth. "You don't even say that out loud. That's never, ever going to happen. Besides what I already told you about Stefan being like a brother, I couldn't. As much as it sucks, maybe the way things worked was fate saving you for me, because I've never come close to loving someone as much as I love you. It may be selfish and bitchy of me, but I'm grateful that they didn't get you because then I would never have found you."

In a flash, Damon was above me, kissing me with wild abandon as his hands caressed my cheeks. "I'm not sure how I ever got this lucky. I sure as hell didn't do anything to deserve you, but I'm so glad you're here."

I smiled up at him, running my hand through his hair. "Me too."

We fell together again, but this time it wasn't the overpowering, primal joining that usually happened when we came together, but rather a slow, gentle, emotional union. Damon kissed me softly and caressed my face as he moved above me. We reached our peaks not in roars, but in loving sighs before falling asleep wrapped together, content and warm.

The next morning, I woke to find Damon staring down at me as he leaned against the headboard, his hand running through my hair. "I already asked Stefan, he's going to help us tonight after school, so be ready."

I sat up and faced him, watching his reaction closely. "Are you sure you're okay with this?"

He sighed, rolling his eyes and looking out the window before looking back at me. "I have to be."

I moved to straddle his legs, slipping my hands into his hair as I kissed him softly. "It's going to be okay. You have absolutely nothing to worry about. Matter of fact, I'm just taking from his wrist right?"

He growled under me making me smirk. "Hear me out… I'm just taking from his wrist, right?" He nodded reluctantly. "What if I sit in your lap and look at you the whole time. Would that somehow make it easier?"

He frowned thinking about it a moment. "I'll hold your hand and look into your eyes the whole time. It's just a taste test, like a wine tasting. Would you be jealous of a wine goblet? Because at that point, that's all he'll be, a very hairy wine goblet."

When I crinkled my nose at the hairy comment, a small smile played at the corner of his lips, his eyes dancing slightly before nodding a little. "Yeah, that might help."

I smiled, "Great! Now do I have to shower all by myself or do I get some help again?"

I was standing on the floor and the water was turned on in the shower before I had a chance to say more. I giggled before moving to the bathroom and stepping into the seamless glass enclosure where Damon was already waiting with a wicked smile.

School went fast, although Stefan and I both were a little tense and awkward in class. We both knew that this was going to be weird for all of us and very hard on Damon. It was still better than the only other option, which was Katherine. There was no way in hell I was going to drink anything from that bitch. Surprisingly enough, I hadn't seen her since the morning of her little threat. I had a sneaking suspicion she'd been given an ultimatum of her own in regard to me, which pleased me to no end.

School ended and I packed up my things slowly, dreading what I was facing once I got home. Unfortunately what I found at home didn't ease my fears any. Damon was in a foul mood, grousing around the house and responding to anything and everything with biting sarcasm. I put my stuff away and changed into a track suit before coming back downstairs and sitting next to him, taking his hand. It hurt my feeling a little when he pulled his hand out from under mine and stared at the fire already burning in the fireplace.

"Damon?" No response. "Damon, look at me."

He finally turned to look at me, his eyes stony and cold, his jaw tight. "We don't have to do this, Damon. This was your idea, not mine, not Stefan's. If it's bothering you this much then we shouldn't."

A muscle in his jaw jumped as he tightened it again as he looked back at the fire before he sighed, never looking away from the dancing flames. "No, we need to know. It's important."

I got up from the couch and positioned myself between him and the fire, resting my hand on his knee. "I don't want to do this if it's going to affect you like this. Let's just forget about it. We already know you make me stronger. What more do we need to know?"

He finally looked at me as if he saw me, the edge of his mask slipping. "What if I can't be there? What if you need more to survive than you can get from me? We need to know."

I sighed, my eyes stinging with tears. "W…Would it be easier if I tried drinking from..." I cleared my throat and could feel my nose crinkling as I forced out the name. "Katherine..instead?"

He closed his eyes before a slow chuckle escaped from his chest. "As hard as it was for you to say it, I think not. That is about how I feel about you taking from Stefan."

I shook my head. "Then let's forget it. I don't need to know. I don't even want to know. Let's just forget about the whole thing and go hang out in our room." I smirked as I said our room since one of our projects Tuesday night was to give in and start moving some of my belongings into his bedroom. It didn't seem to bother him, as I worried it might, for his mancave to be encroached upon, but he took it like a man.

He looked back and forth between my eyes a few times before finally blowing out a breath. "No, let's just get this over with and then we'll know."

He stood up, tugging me with him and led me to the kitchen where Stefan and Elena were sitting, eating supper together at the counter. As we walked in, they both stiffened just like us. Things were awkward as we arranged the room for what we were about to do. Elena looked just as uncomfortable as me while the boys glared at each other.

Once Damon was settled in a chair in front of the sink, I draped myself across his lap, my hand buried in his hair while Stefan broke the skin of his wrist and offered it to me. As soon as it got close, Damon began to growl, glaring at his brother, his skin beginning to mottle and his irises getting bigger and bigger. On instinct, I yanked on his hair, making him look at me.

"Ignore him, Damon. He's just the wine goblet, remember? I Love You, not him, not anybody else, only you."

I gestured with my free hand for Stefan to move closer again. It took a moment because in the delay his body had healed itself. Soon his hand was before me again and Damon glared at it as I reached for it to position it at my mouth. I yanked his hair so he looked at me again; my nose crinkling before Stefan's arm even met my mouth. I could already tell that the smell was all off and the taste wouldn't be right, but I wasn't gagging. I locked eyes with Damon and reached my tongue out to lick at the puncture wound once while Damon growled again under me.

My mouth puckered with the almost sour taste, almost like sucking on a lemon, but I didn't get sick. Damon's eyes searched mine as I pushed Stefan's arm away and reached beside me for the merlot, uncorking it and guzzling the liquid before looking at Damon again with watery eyes.

"It didn't make me sick like the human blood, but it wasn't exactly good either. It was sour and off, not like yours. I could survive off of it if I had to, but I don't really care for it."

Damon growled again, crushing his lips to mine in a maneuver I sensed was claiming possession before he finally released me, relief in his eyes. Satisfied that he was okay, I turned back to Stefan and Elena, thanking them for helping before getting up off of Damon and pulling him to follow me with the wine bottle in my hand. I led him up the stairs to our room, leaving him on the bed while I moved to the tub to draw a warm bubble bath. I went to the cupboard that he stashed his glasses and alcohol in, grabbing out two wine goblets before gesturing for him to join me in the bathroom.

He smiled dangerously as he stalked after me into the bathroom, capturing me from behind and tugging at my clothes. I let him help me into the bath, taking care of me before issuing his claim over me, submitting to his need to prove to the world he was mine by partaking of my blood and then having me partake of his. It was an intoxicating evening that left we weak and exhausted, but it was worth it for the peace of mind Damon seemed to have gained from what we learned about my nutritional needs as well as my emotional ones. I think in some way I had finally made him understand that his fears of abandonment weren't valid with me, because the only thing that might ever come between me and him now was the curse and the job I still had to do in order to save Elena and her friends.


	11. Chapter 11

_**Author's Note: I hate to leave you with a cliff hanger, but you are now completely caught up. Hope you like it. Thanks again to my awesome prereaders Elohcin and MissSherrie. Hope you enjoy. I don't know how soon you'll see another update, but hopefully it won't be too long.**_

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**Chapter 11**

Things were so good for the rest of that week and the weekend that followed. I felt like I was living in a dream. Damon was caring and attentive and most of all playful. It was nice to have fun with someone again, as it was a luxury I hadn't had in a long time. I also started developing a life outside of Damon and work, meeting Jenna for supper twice and spending some time getting to know some of my other fellow teachers in the teacher's lounge in some of my downtime. Life was starting to feel comfortable, and while I knew it was a false calm, it was still far too easy to fall into it and let everything else slide. I should have known that it was a mistake to get comfortable, because all too soon, reality came crashing in with one massive revelation that pulled the thread that made my world unravel again.

It was almost three weeks after I'd moved in. Katherine had been little more than a specter, flitting around the periphery of my life, but giving me a wide berth at the same time. Damon and I were getting closer, if that were actually possible, and had begun to fall into a comfortable pattern. It was during that pattern one night as we sat in the living room, Damon and Stefan playing chess across the room that Elena asked a question about Elijah and Damon made some off handed comment about maybe she should go in the basement and check and I flipped out.

They all turned to me with wide eyes as I literally jumped up on the couch and screamed like a mouse was running around under my legs. I couldn't explain my reaction, but it was strong and quite involuntary.

"Elijah's here? In this house? He's been in the basement the whole time? OH my God!"

Tears were trailing down my face as I shivered and shook, knowing that something horrible was about to happen, though I didn't know what. The only thing I knew was that I needed to leave that house and never come back.

Tapping into a vampire speed faster than any I'd found before I had darted through the vestibule, grabbed my keys and was out the door before anyone else knew what was happening. Damon barely caught me before I opened the car door and skidded away at top speed. He looked nearly as frantic as I felt as he stared down at me, holding me by my upper arms with a considerably hard grip to keep me from breaking free, as my body was trying to do on pure instinct.

"What is wrong, Bekah? It's okay. He's dead for all intents and purposes. He can't hurt you."

I shook my head and chanted over and over. "I can't stay, Damon. I can't stay. Something bad will happen if I stay. You have to let me go, Damon." Somehow I just KNEW.

Stefan and Elena had joined us by then, trying to help Damon soothe me, but I fought. I couldn't stay. Then a voice came from behind the throng, callous and sharp.

"Let her go. It's obvious that she's a little chicken. She's not cut out to deal with this."

"Shut up Katherine before I go find a stake to shove into your heart," Damon growled at her over his shoulder before looking down at me with pleading eyes.

"There's nowhere else to go, Bekah. Stay here with me. Please. I promise I'll keep you safe. He's not going to hurt you."

I melted against his chest in tears before mumbling that I wasn't sure about that. Damon denied it again before leading me back into the house and directly to our room as Elena and Stefan followed. He walked me straight to bed and helped me get under the covers while Stefan and Elena dashed about trying to make me more comfortable as I stared in silence.

Finally, just before Stefan and Elena left, I turned toward them with a hoarse voice as Damon returned to the room with a tray full of food and a bottle of wine. "I don't know how I know it, but this is a bad idea. I should leave. I…I don't know why, but this is bad."

They dismissed my fears again before leaving me alone with Damon. He fed me and then curled under the covers with me, caressing my hair, and kissing my head before we both eventually fell into a deep sleep.

_My dreams were scattered and disjointed for a while before one took dominance in my mind. The world was hazy as I walked down the dark, wooden corridors of the house. I didn't know where I was going but wherever it was, I was focused and determined. I walked down the staircase to the first floor and then through that level to the door in the kitchen that led to the basement. I had never been in the basement before, only having been told it was there when Damon gave me my tour, but I walked the dark hewn-stone corridors as if I'd walked them a million times. _

_I passed a small offshoot where a beaten up chest freezer stood against the wall. The scent of human blood was strongest here and I knew that this was where Damon and Stefan must keep their blood bank supply. I walked further beyond the small hallway before turning to stand before a metal door chained and locked with a thick strong padlock. I watched in fascinated horror as my hand reached out and yanked on the padlock, breaking the chain it bound as if it were made of paper rings instead of steel. I pushed open the door to reveal the prone body of Elijah, an ancient looking dagger sticking out of his chest, his face gray and mottled with a sort of death that rarely befell an Original._

_I screamed for my body to stop, fought to take control and stop myself as my body moved to keel beside him and yank the dagger out in one quick movement. I was crying on the inside, screaming for my arms to replace the weapon, but they didn't respond. Instead, I knelt there, waiting, and then with a gasp Elijah sat up, eyes wide and ready to fight. When his eyes landed on me, his anger melted into a smirk._

"_I knew you would not fail me, my daughter. No matter what attachments you make, I will always be stronger. I feel you fighting, but the compulsion is too strong. Now it is time to take care of those who betrayed me."_

_The anger in his eyes sparked like fire, and I cried out internally, begging him to spare them. He turned back to me, cocking his head before walking back to my waiting body, still moving free of my own will. He held my face between his palms before his smile changed to calculating._

"_This may be useful. No, I shall not kill them…yet. You shall stay and serve me here. Now go back to bed."_

I woke up in bed next to Damon, screaming and crying as I thrashed against the sheets and Damon's grasp. I jumped out of bed and screamed, dashing for the door and running straight down the path I'd taken in my dream. The basement door stood wide open as I approached it and a chill ran up my spine. I darted down the stairwell and froze before I reached the door, noticing the padlock hanging from the one chain still attached on the handle of the metal door. I melted to my knees and sobbed as the rest of the house appeared around me, gaping at the sight before them.

"I did it," I sobbed. "I freed him. I was dreaming and I couldn't control my body. I…I came here and removed the dagger. Elijah is free."

Damon fell to his knees in front of me, his eyes looking haunted as he captured my face between his hands while Katherine called for my life behind me. He looked sad and hurt as I shook my head at him.

"Somehow I knew. I knew deep inside he had compelled me before he left to find him and release him from any prison he might be trapped in, but it wasn't a part of my conscious to know what I was so afraid of. I'm so sorry."

He shook his head at me slowly. "No, someone must have moved his body or something. If Elijah had been freed the first thing he would have done was kill us all. Not only that, his compulsion would have been broken when we stabbed him, as it did when Katherine was released."

I let out a sob before I found my voice again. "No, he has other plans. He looked into me and saw my connections to everyone, but you in particular. He said he was leaving me here to serve him and then he sent me back to bed. I…I can't stay or he's going to find a way to use me against you. I'm his blood, he controls part of me that no regular compulsion could gain control over. I understand it now somehow. I'll never be free of him."

I melted into more sobs, barely cognizant of my body being scooped off the floor and carried away. It wasn't until I heard the rumble in his chest that I realized Damon was carrying me away. "You don't go anywhere without me…Elijah's compulsion or no. You are my Mate, and nothing's going to separate us. NOTHING!" I could hear the possessiveness of the Mating Bond in his voice, and knew he meant every word and he would die before he broke them.

Once back in our room, he started a bath before undressing me and setting me gently in the water, washing the dirt from my feet, legs, and hands. He lifted my right hand which was deeply bruised, no doubt from exerting the needed pressure to break the chain that held Elijah's prison door closed. He kissed it gently before washing it carefully. When he was done, his eyes were so intense they nearly glowed in the early morning light that was beginning to pour through the windows.

"I'll find a way to break the compulsion. One way or another, you will be free from Elijah."

Tears blurred my vision as I lifted a hand to cup his cheek. "I love you. Never doubt that. I…what we have isn't due to some directive of the compulsion. I KNOW it."

He shook his head slowly. "I know, and even if it were, it doesn't matter. We are bound now; no matter the origin, there is no feigning a mating bond. We'll get through this."

"I'm so sorry, Damon." My voice broke as I begged for forgiveness before he stood up and stepped into the tub still dressed in his pajamas and pulled me to his chest.

"There's nothing to forgive, Bekah. Nothing. He's not going to win." And for the first time since they let slip Elijah's presence in the house, I believed him.


	12. Chapter 12

_**Author's Note: Okay, so I'd planned this to happen later in the story, but Damon decided otherwise. Hope you like it. Thanks to MissSherrie and Elohcin for prereading and catching a few of my oopsies. Not sure when the next chapter will come, but as I have plans to focus entirely on Induction this week, it will be sometime next week at the soonest.**_

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**Chapter 12**

In my state of distress, work had completely slipped my mind. Thankfully, Stefan and Elena had the forethought to call in on my behalf. After we emerged from the bath, Damon dried me with a gentle touch before helping me into dry sweats and lying back in bed with me, holding me close and kissing my head. I was more exhausted than I'd ever been in my life, and yet I was too upset to sleep, afraid of what I might do next.

It terrified me that I really had freed Elijah in my sleep, my body entirely out of my control. I didn't want to lose consciousness for even a second; worried I might try to hurt Damon, Stefan, or Elena in my sleep. I didn't feel like there was any such compulsion inside me, but I hadn't known about the one that had released Elijah either. Who knew what I was capable of doing? I'd already proven time and again that I couldn't trust myself.

Damon didn't even try to talk, giving me the space I needed to think while just being there for me. I was so grateful, even while worried to death for him. I felt the need crawling under my skin again, like a million bugs trying to break free, telling me I needed to run to save them all…but then again that didn't work because I needed to be here to save them all. It was a vicious loop in my head, making me crazier than I was already feeling.

Damon surprised me when he broke the silence completely out of the blue. "Before you came, we were working on another option that involved the witches. Elijah's witch friend and his son were trying to find the place where a ton of witches were murdered several hundred years ago. Elijah's plan was to have a witch channel the power that their violent death left there in order to kill Klaus. They're still working on it, but we could use it to kill Elijah instead. Then you' be free."

I rolled toward him, resting my head on my pillow as he continued to stare at the ceiling. "No, as much power as Elijah has over me and everything else around him, he's not nearly as powerful as Klaus. If you have a way to kill Klaus, then you have to use it. After I break the curse, he's going to want revenge. You can use it to kill him then before he can slaughter everyone I love."

Damon's head snapped toward me, his eyes narrow and filled with a combination of hurt and anger. "No! I'm not letting you sacrifice yourself either. There's another way…there has to be."

I chuckled without humor before rolling onto my back to stare at the ceiling again. "You keep saying that Damon, but in the end there's only going to be so many ways to do this. We now have three options that might stop this from happening. How many more do you think there might possibly be?"

He rolled onto his side and took my hand in his, tracing the lines of my palm. "AT least one more…always at least one more."

I smiled grimly at the ceiling, musing that the changes in Damon somehow also turned him into an optimist. Go figure.

"I've decided that I'm going to attempt something different…if I can."

Damon shuffled closer, resting his head on his hand while his other continued to caress mine, raising his eyebrows in a request for me to continue.

"If I break the curse once and for all, it will be a free for all on the human population. In the end, it could either completely wipe out or come close to wiping out the human population in the race to create more and more vampires and werewolves. The only way to make sure that never happens and my family is safe for the rest of their lives as well as the generations that follow is to solidify the curse, forever keeping it from breaking. Considering what my very existence is supposed to do to magical things, I think it's possible…if I can only find out how."

"Can you do it without dying?"

I shrugged. "If I can, then I will, but if I have to, then I will."

He frowned down at me, his jaw tensing. "Why are you so willing to leave me? I thought you said you wouldn't abandon me."

My eyes bulged as I looked at his pained blue eyes. I sat up in a flash, moving to lay over him. "I don't want to leave you, not at all, but I have to save you all. It's bigger than you and me."

"Nothing's bigger than you and me in my eyes."

I smirked, shaking my head at him with a sigh. "Love blinded man! Perhaps you need to think of it this way…what do you think it will do to me if I let Elena and her friends die when I could have stopped it? Or if I let Klaus unleash the curse and ravage the world? Do you think I could stand to see that happen? Do you think I'd really be living with that level of guilt?"

He frowned at me, his nostrils flaring. "I suppose not, but I can't let you die. I can't let you go."

I leaned down, finding for the first time since everything happened something that was more important to me than my failings…soothing the one person I loved more than any other. "That's not anything you have to worry about at this moment, and even if I die, I'll always be with you. I can't believe that what I feel for you could ever disappear, even in death."

His eyes were hurting me to watch as they clouded. He reached up to push a strand of my hair behind my ear before teasing his fingers across my cheekbones. "If you die, I'm going to be right behind you, or right there with you. You're not going anywhere without me."

I shook my head at him with a sad sigh. "I don't want you to do that. I would want you to live."

He rolled over, pinning me on the bed as a tear fell on my cheek. "Don't you understand? There is no living without you. All those things you asked about if you didn't do what you feel is our duty and were left behind…that's how I feel about a life without you. I wouldn't be living; I would be dying every day until I was with you again or just gone, but either way, the hell on earth would be unbearable. I lived it once when Katherine was gone, and what I felt for her was insubstantial in comparison. Where you go, I go…even unto death."

I reached up to wipe away another tear before pulling him down to kiss me. When we broke, I was panting into his face. "You know, that was more beautiful than the most heartfelt wedding vow I've ever heard. I love you so much."

Damon's eyes widened before he blinked a few times, cocking his head as he stared down at me before a long, devious smile stretched across his lips. "Why didn't I think of that?"

"What?"

He chuckled at my face as it crinkled in confusion. He reached down to smooth the furrows away before trailing his fingers over my features. "I think…_we_ should get married."

This time my eyes were the ones the bulged in surprise. "Excuse me?"

He just smirked down at me before leaning in to steal another kiss from my surprised lips. "You heard me. We should get married."

I lifted my hand to rest on his forehead, "Who exactly are you and what have you done with my boyfriend?"

"I'm your mate who thinks we should make it official and tie the knot. It's not like we're not already bound for the rest of our lives…why not do it the traditional way?"

I stared at him, shaking my head slowly. "Am I dreaming again? Did I drift off to sleep and now this is some crazy, exhaustion induced dream?"

He chuckled, moving to pin my legs and arms to the bed as he hovered against me in a slightly more dominant fashion. "No, and you're beginning to make me self conscious with all these doubts about the reality of my offer."

I smirked up at him, "What, no ring? No bended knee and bouquet of roses?"

He narrowed his eyes at me before jumping up and disappearing into the hallway. Less than a minute later, he was back with a handful of wildflowers from behind the house. He walked back into the room as I sat on the side of the bed, kneeling before me to present me with the bundle of damp flowers.

"For you, Miss Gilbert. Please forgive their dampened state, for I picked them fresh just for you."

I reached out to take them, smiling at the colors he'd managed to bundle so quickly. "Thank you, Mr. Salvatore. What do I owe the honor?"

He smiled up at me, looking so young as his eyes sparkled and danced. From behind his back, he brought forth a small velvet box.

"Forgive me for being so forward, Miss Gilbert, but I have pined for you since the first day I saw your beautiful eyes. My every thought is of you and I would like nothing more than to make you mine for the rest of our days. Will you do me the honor of being my bride?"

He cracked open the hinged box to reveal a thin gold band etched in swirling patterns that appeared to be fading slightly. Above the band, a small clear diamond sat with large prongs curling up over the top edges to hold it securely in place.

My hand flew to my mouth. "Damon?"

He smiled removing it from the box and tossing the velvet cube aside to take my hand. "This was our mother's, the stone coming from a mine right here on the family's property. It's been locked away in a family safe in the house since her death, long before we were changed. I don't think Stefan will mind if I give it to you, considering…"

I shook my head slowly as I stared at the tiny, delicate ring. "Damon, it's too precious. I'm afraid I might damage it."

He smiled up at me, holding the ring at the tip of my left ring finger. "Is that your only argument against my request?"

I blinked into his shining blue eyes, my heart pounding in my chest. I didn't know how he managed it, but he had pushed away all the darkness that had surrounded me since the day before just by loving me.

I nodded, tears welling up in my eyes. His smile got brighter as he slid the thin band onto my hand. It shocked me that it actually fit, looking far too delicate for my hands, yet it almost seemed to belong there once Damon slid it home on my finger.

"I know it's on your finger now, but I really need to hear the words from your mouth." Damon teased from the place where he still knelt on the floor.

I squealed before jumping into his arms and knocking him to the floor. "Yes, yes, I'll marry you, Damon."

He captured my lips with a searing kiss and we didn't get back up off the floor until nearly an hour later, having joined and savored one another in every way that we could.

When we did finally leave the bedroom again to go find food in the kitchen, I felt calmer; Damon's love and blood flowing through my veins settled me. Somehow, it felt like Elijah couldn't touch me when I was filled with Damon. I wasn't sure why…

Stefan and Elena came home from school to find us curled up together on the couch, our left hands twined as Damon slowly rubbed the band of my ring. Damon smiled up at them, raising my hand toward Stefan.

"I hope you didn't have plans for this, little brother, but I couldn't exactly ask my girl to marry me with no ring. I didn't think you'd mind so much since it was Bekah."

Elena's eyes grew wide before she ran over to me with a huge smile, hugging my neck before examining the ring.

"This looks antique. Was it a family heirloom?"

Stefan walked over with a sad smile taking my hand and kissing the ring, making Damon stiffen slightly below me. He congratulated me sincerely before turning to Elena. "Yes, it was our mother's and I think it is fitting for Bekah to get it, considering what she means to Damon. It was supposed to be passed down to Damon's bride anyway as the firstborn."

I thanked him before turning back to Damon with a smile. He kissed my forehead before turning back to Stefan and Elena.

"Do we dare bring up what happened this morning?" Stefan asked warily.

I sucked in a breath, my chest aching at the memory as I nibbled my lip before shifting and nodding.

"Elena and I discussed it today and we wondered if it would help at all if you started drinking vervain. It might help fight off the compulsion."

I sighed, shaking my head. "Nope…won't help. It doesn't stop Original Compulsion in a normal person, much less me. Although…" I turned to look at Damon speculatively. "I don't know if it's really a difference or if it just feels like it, but when I have Damon's blood inside me, it doesn't seem like there's any room left for Elijah's compulsion, if that makes any sense."

Damon narrowed his eyes in thought, a spark igniting behind the blue and I knew some smart comment had popped in his head. The hint of a smile played at his lips, but to his credit, he managed to keep it in. Finally he smiled and shrugged, but I was pretty sure he'd put some sort of puzzle piece into place, though I had no clue what it could have been. He took my hand again, resuming the slow, soothing stroking of the etched gold band with his thumb as he resumed the conversation with Stefan and Elena.

Elena and I shared supper while the boys talked over glasses of blood. I had never been a nervous eater before, but I felt ravenous as we ate, even going to the fridge to unearth more food. Actually, I'd had an increased appetite for a few days. I wrote it off to all the extra sex, but as I took a bite of a juicy blackberry, a fruit I'd never cared for before, I began to wonder if it was a sign of another change in me. The days were creeping onward toward that date that I hadn't brought up yet with the group, the date that seemed to taunt me like the sharpened blade of a guillotine. In eight weeks and two days, I would be turning thirty. We had eight weeks and two days until something big was going to happen, one way or another.


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's Note: Another update and a tension filled one at that. I hope you like it. I want to say in advance for those that either don't watch the series or haven't caught this, but the VD vamps do have heartbeats. That was something one of my pre-readers had mentioned, but VD is different mythology. At any rate, Thanks to MissSherrie and Elohcin for prereading this for me. Not sure when we will see another update, but the plotline is pretty solid in my head, so hopefully I have some time to work on it again soon. So far neither of my prereaders have guessed what's going on. I'll be interested to hear your theories…**

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**Chapter 13**

Damon didn't want me to go to work the next day, but I felt it was something I needed to do, even if I was looking over my shoulder every three seconds to make sure Elijah wasn't there. I'm not sure why, but having Damon's blood inside me and the precious heirloom on my finger as a constant reminder of our devotion to one another, I felt like I was safe…as if nothing could touch me.

Stefan and Elena hovered all day long, worried about me, making sure I was okay. Meanwhile, Bonnie and Caroline about lost their eyes they bulged so far from their skulls as they eyeballed my hand during lunch with the two of them, Elena, and Stefan in my classroom.

"I still can't get over this. _Damon Salvatore_ the cocky, jerky, arrogant, egotistical…" Caroline babbled until Bonnie interrupted her.

"You can stop with the string of adjectives any time now, Caroline. We're all quite aware of Damon's nature, well, of his nature before he got involved with Aunt Bekah here and got all tame and gooey."

I snorted as I took a drink of my soda, causing me to cough as the bubbles tickled my nose and throat making my eyes water. "Is he really that bad with me?"

Elena turned to me with a sweet smile. "We're just all use to jaded, cynical Damon. In comparison to that…yes."

Stefan hid a smirk behind his hand across the room, leading me to narrow my eyes in his direction. "Anything to add, Stefan?"

He lowered his hand, his lips quirking as he measured his words. "It's not quite as foreign for me. Before Katherine, Damon had a much softer side, so much so that the only way he could handle what was happening after our change was to shut himself off completely on an emotional level. When we were first changed, he wasn't even willing to take blood to complete the change, but I talked him into it. He's reminding me very much of that Damon of long ago."

I nodded, smiling to myself as I recalled the story Damon told me of those events. I was just as shocked as everyone else to know that Stefan was the one to openly embrace to an overzealous degree their new nature. It wasn't until his friend Lexi arrived in his life that Stefan began to learn to control his 'ripper tendencies' as Lexi had called them.

"Well, Bekah did say he went and did things the old fashioned way with his mother's ring and the flowers, so it sure seems like he is getting back to his roots," Caroline crooned with a wink in my direction. I smiled back at her before getting back to my salad.

"Well, I know there's one other side effect that I'm grateful for. I still can't believe Katherine took off, but I can't begin to tell you how relieved I am." Elena crowed as she curled up to Stefan's side.

I swallowed and stared down at the mixed greens in the bowl before me. After supper the night before, Stefan and Damon went in search for Katherine. They had been surprised that she hadn't been making a pest of herself and went to see what she was up to. That was when we learned why she hadn't been a pest…she was gone, taking all the belongings she had at the house with her.

Everyone was relieved but me. I hated her living in that house with us, but I couldn't help but feel that in her case the old adage of keep your friends close and your enemies closer was definitely a good rule of thumb. If she was there, we could keep tabs on her, but who knew what trouble she was brewing out there on her own. For all we knew, she'd gone straight to Klaus to hand Elena over on a silver platter in exchange for her own life.

Whatever the reason, I had very mixed feelings about her departure, among them a smug satisfaction in the fact that she had been seen lounging around the house the morning after Elijah was gone, and only disappeared after Damon's proposal. Vampire hearing could be a real bitch, especially if you had designs on proving something to the world by trying to steal a certain mated male from what she would see as an inferior female. It was in poor taste, but the fact that I was the one who retained Damon's heart was very good for my ego.

Our lunch ended on the topic of Katherine, but the subject would no doubt return to the forefront of our lunch discussions in the not so distant future.

Life continued as usual the next few days. Despite my constant searching everywhere I went, there was no sign of Elijah…that was until Friday evening when I had to stay late for a Parent/Teacher Association meeting that one of my colleagues roped me into, saying that the PTA needed new blood.

It was dark by the time I left the building that night. We walked out to our cars in a group before waving and departing the parking lot, each of us going in different directions. My drive was uneventful until I turned down the long, quiet road that the Salvatore property rested upon only to have to slam on my brakes to avoid crashing into the glaring form of Elijah. He placed his hands on the hood, pushing the car backward until it was wedged between two trees, keeping me from escaping through any of the doors.

My heart pounded in my chest as he jumped up on the hood and walked to kneel in front of my windshield, digging his fingers into the seal at the top edge of the windshield and popping it out in a solid piece as if it were nothing. He tossed it aside where it shattered into hundreds of pieces.

"Why haven't you come when I have called you, Rebekah? I want an explanation."

My eyes bulged before a thrill of excitement went up my spine. My feelings had been right. Somehow, Damon's blood blocked Elijah's compulsion. The elation I felt was brief as he gripped the roof, ripping it away to lean over me menacingly.

"Answer me! How dare you defy me?"

I shook my head and swallowed. "I haven't knowingly defied you. I never received any such compulsion, although I can't say I'm not grateful for the reprieve."

His eyes flared in the darkness. "That's impossible. You were subject to my compulsion even in my brief state of death. You lie."

I shook my head again, feeling trapped and helpless, only the truth to guide me. "No lie. Don't know what to tell you."

His nostrils flared as he reached forward to grab me and yank me from the wreckage that was once my nice little car when his hand froze just before reaching me. He looked surprised, staring at his hand as it pushed against an invisible barrier. He reached in again with his other hand only to be stopped once more.

"What is this witchcraft?" He bellowed before reaching to grab the steering wheel in front of me and ripping it from the car. He threw it at me and I ducked just before it hit me in the head, bouncing off the back seat and falling over my shoulder to the back of the car.

"Your little witch friend is not this empowered, so who have you found to assist you? I know Jonas and Luka are dead, so who have you found, little girl? Answer me!"

"Nobody! I thought Damon's blood was protecting me or something, since I wasn't feeling compelled anymore."

He snorted and shook his head as he paced before turning back to me, but just as he reached for me again, a tall mass tackled him in the dark. The two forms and a third that followed disappeared into the darkness of the woods, only the occasional sounds of the fight taking place informed me of their position. I was so scared as I sensed the presence of Damon who apparently had been the form that tackled Elijah.

Caroline appeared on the hood, looking worriedly in the direction of the woods before reaching down to break my seatbelt and lift me from the wreckage of my car as if I were a ragdoll. Bonnie and Elena were watching from in front of the car, their scared faces showing in the light of my still-shining headlights. Once my feet were on the ground, Caroline disappeared into the woods to help.

"Damon felt your distress. He took off before we could say much of anything, and Stefan was right behind him. What happened?"

I shook my head as my arms and legs shook like Jello. I heard Caroline cry out seconds before I turned and ran into the woods in the direction of the fray. Damon slammed into a tree to the right of me as I entered the clearing created by the battle. Stefan snarled at Elijah seconds before Elijah flicked him away like a fly.

"Stop!" I yelled. I heard Damon call my name in fear as I approached Elijah.

"Leave my family alone."

He smirked at me. "Stupid girl. I am the _only _family you have left. You are my blood and you will obey."

I stepped closer, the need to protect Damon and my friends stronger than any sense of self preservation. "No. I am changing, becoming more Vampire-like. Thus being so, I have mated and my mate is now my family. He trumps any blood bond you might have had over me."

"That isn't how this works, Rebekah."

"What other reason do you have for the fact that I haven't answered your compulsion, Elijah?"

He looked over at Damon who was fighting to stand up and protect me. I saw his plan before he moved, and as Elijah started toward Damon, I flashed in front of him, my anger boiling inside me.

"You WILL NOT touch him!"

Damon sounded horrified behind me, not knowing what Elijah and I had discovered just moments before he showed up to play the white knight. Well, with my newfound knowledge, it was time to let a girl take the mantle for a few moments.

Elijah reached out to strike me again, his arm bouncing off the invisible barrier as if he'd tried to hit some indestructible rubber ball.

His eyes flashed as he stared at me, but I felt nothing. Then he surprised me by looking behind me. Within a breath, I was wrapped tight in Damon's arms, his hand tightening on my throat making breathing difficult.

"Oh God, no," he breathed behind me as his hand tightened and acted as if it was going to twist, breaking my neck in an instant.

"So, not the mating bond protecting you, or else he would be immune as well. If I didn't need you, I'd have him snap your neck and be done with you. Alas, you're not dispensable…yet."

With a cry, Damon released me and fell to his knees behind me, writhing in pain. I dropped to my knees and pulled him into my arms, kissing his head as tears rolled down my cheeks. I prayed for the ability to ease his pain, only to have his convulsions stop below me. I glanced back up at Elijah to see the surprise once again on his face.

He was about to move on to torture Stefan when the woods began to groan, the trees twisting and bending around us. Bonnie stepped through the woods behind Damon and I, her arms outstretched, chanting to the wind. Elena was at her side, running to kneel beside Stefan, helping him to stand.

"This isn't over. You're still needed, Rebekah, and you will serve your purpose."

I stood up and faced him again, my eyes hard and cheeks streaked with tears. "That I will, but for my own reasons, and probably not to your satisfaction. Touch my family again and I will find a way to make sure you stay dead next time. Anomalies are quite good at that…which is why you created me."

He snarled at me as he backed into the darkness, leaving the rest of us alone.

"Bekah, would you like to explain what the hell just happened?" Damon growled behind me, his eyes still affixed to the section of woods into which Elijah had vanished.

I moved to wrap myself around the quickly recovering Damon, resting my head over the reassuring measure of his beating heart. "I would tell you if I knew."

We limped as a group back to the house after grabbing my purse and messenger bag out of the twisted steel that was once my car, all trying to sort out what had really happed that night. The only thing we could all agree on was that it was amazing and incredibly confusing.

When we reached the front porch, illuminated by the twin sconces on the side of the brick edifice, I looked at Damon, nibbling my lip at the guilt in his eyes.

"It was the compulsion of an Original. You couldn't have stopped it if you tried."

He sighed, shaking his head. "You did though, and you share his blood. I should have…I almost."

I tugged him to a stop and tipped up onto my toes to wrap my arms around his neck. "Something else…something mystical is going on here. He was convinced I had found a very powerful witch to bespell me in order to resist him. No, there's definitely something else going on with all of that."

I buried my fingers in Damon's hair before stealing some kisses for my own comfort as well as his. When I slid down to my heels again, he held onto my hands, bringing them to his lips to kiss. As he did, the diamond ring on my finger sparkled in the light, making me smile. He ran his finger over it reverently before kissing it again, then leading me through the front door and into the safety of his family's homestead.


	14. Chapter 14

_**Author's Note: Some answers and more questions in this chapter. Hope you like it. Thanks to MissSherrie and Elohcin for prereading and pointing out a few of my bigger errors!**_

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**Chapter 14**

Elena and Bonnie played doctor to us all that evening. Poor Caroline had actually gotten it the worst, her body attempting to heal a set of broken ribs. I felt horrible that she, along with Stefan and Damon had been hurt because of me. I wished I could help heal them quicker, but there was nothing I could do.

"There has to be some answer to all of this," Stefan sighed across the room as he shifted and took another drink from his glass of blood. "Maybe you were still right, Bekah. Maybe it's not the mating bond, but Damon's actual blood that somehow blocks Elijah?"

I shook my head. "That makes no sense. You would think that would make Damon automatically immune and he certainly wasn't. Not only that, even if it kept him from compelling me, it shouldn't have stopped him from hitting me or grabbing me. I also can't figure out how he couldn't touch me, but Damon could. It's giving me a massive headache just trying to figure it all out."

I lifted my hands to my temples to rub them with my eyes closed. I took in a deep breath and let it out in a deep sigh before moving my hands to the back of my neck and rolling my head to release some of the tension. Damon reached over and removed my hand before rubbing my neck with just the right amount of pressure. I hummed in pleasure and thanked him before opening my eyes to glance around the room again.

Sitting across from me, Stefan was spinning his daywalker ring absentmindedly as he stared into space, and then it clicked. The only thing that had changed since the last time I saw Elijah when he had no problems touching me and using me like a marionette was sitting on my left ring finger. I brought my hand up slowly, frowning down at it and twisting it on my finger, watching the swirling designs in the gold before the diamond came back around to the top of my hand, sparkling in the dim lighting.

"I have a hunch, but I need to check something first. Elena, can I borrow your laptop?" I nodded toward the small Dell sitting on the end table, still open.

"Of course," she said, picking it up and entering the password to bring it back to life before carrying it to me with a confused expression.

Damon shifted closer, looking over my shoulder as I brought up Google and searched for any information I could find about diamond mines, as something was clicking in my brain from my undergrad years. "What ya got there, Bek?"

I smiled before turning to Damon. "It takes very special conditions to find diamond on the surface layers of the planet, and even better conditions to find gemstone quality diamond. There are several gemstone mines in Virginia, Topaz, Amethyst, etc, but Diamonds are only found along kimberlite pipes. The topography of our area of Virginia is in no way suited to produce kimberlite pipes that bring diamond up from deep in the earth where they form, so something else would have had to cause the kind of heat and pressure necessary to leech carbon and force it into the diamond lattice crystals in order to make this."

Damon's eyes widened as he blinked at my ring before looking back up to me. "You mean like the violent mass murder of a large group of witches which supposedly would unleash great power on the site where they were murdered?"

I smiled and nodded as the other people in the room gasped. Damon tossed the computer onto the cushion next to him before lifting my hand to kiss the back of my hand next to the ring. "I am more and more grateful I gave this to you every day. We were actually told that this was the only gemstone they were able to get out of that mine, the rest were used for industrial uses, and Father ordered this to be cut and polished for Mother."

"But how did it know who to and not to let past the barrier?"

I shook my head, staring in bewilderment at the ring. "I think it might depend on my own feelings. I was scared of Elijah, so it protected me, but I wasn't scared of Damon so it let him pass. Then when Elijah was torturing him, I wanted to be able to protect him and then he seemed to stop hurting. Elijah looked surprised, so I think I somehow made it protect him too? Oh Gosh, I don't know. All I have is speculation."

Stefan stood up and walked toward me, shaking his head. "No, you pieced this together when we didn't even think about it. We took it for granted that the diamond mine was here. I never dreamed…So the place we've been looking for has been right here the whole time…just a couple of miles from this house? What are the odds?"

I chuckled, "Considering it's this group, it really doesn't surprise me so much."

Everyone chuckled except Damon who kept brushing his finger across the gold band as he stared down at the ring he had given me. We decided it was safer for Caroline and Bonnie to go home, since Elijah could walk into the mansion anytime he wanted after Damon's little dinner party. The rest of us shuffled off to bed and Damon held onto me tightly as we relaxed into the mattress, his fingers constantly brushing the gold on my finger.

After a long while, I turned toward him with worried eyes. "Are you okay? You're not acting like yourself. Do you need more blood?"

An instant later, I was wrapped in Damon's Boa Constrictor-like arms as he buried his face in my neck. "This just made it even clearer to me that I can't lose you. When you walked into that clearing and faced Elijah I about had a heart attack, then, when he…when I…I can't believe I almost..."

I pushed back from his grip and covered his mouth. "No more about that. It wasn't you. Please stop with that."

He jumped up and flashed over to the window, staring out at the moonlit lawn. I got up and moved to stand behind him, tugging his shoulder to force him to look at me. The pain on his face shattered my heart into a million pieces.

"I CAN'T, Bekah. I almost killed you today. I…You…I can't stand the thought of you having a single injury, and yet I almost broke your neck like it was nothing."

I shook my head, stepping up to cup his cheek. He turned away, making my heart ache. I reached out with my other hand, holding his face between both palms. "I heard you, Damon. You were scared. You were fighting, but Elijah was too strong. It might have been your hands on me, but it wasn't you doing it, so please, stop blaming yourself. I love you, and I don't want to lose you, either physically or even emotionally. I'm okay. I'm fine. Look at me…REALLY look at me. I am standing in front of you without even a bruise, and loving you completely. Please don't let his actions finally break me by losing you to your fears."

His face crumpled, tears falling down his cheeks as he reached out to hold my face. "I wouldn't survive it. I've survived far more than I ever should have, but _this_, losing what we have, there's no way I'd make it ten minutes."

With a gentle tug down, I pulled his lips to mine, taking him in both body and soul. We stood there and held each other as we kissed and kissed in the moonlight. When our kisses finally slowed, Damon led me slowly to the bed and curled up with me, his arms surrounding me in a protective cocoon as his lips placed light kisses on my head and temples. Eventually we fell asleep between whispered promises and tears.

_I walked down the hallway of the mansion and out into the darkness. The grass was cold and wet under my feet as I trod barefoot through the tall grasses. I felt as though someone were trying to pull me back, to keep me from going further, but I was drawn to the place I was going. The tugging eventually stopped, but I could feel the presence following me. _

_The sun was nearly up when I reached the place that beckoned, a simple, green grassland lined on three sides with trees, a small pond to the left. I moved to the middle and waited. Just as the sun rose, the yellow and red specks of light glinting off the ripples on the surface of the water danced and sparkled before one rose up above the surface, independent of the rest of the twinkling lights. It moved toward me before it grew taller and broader. Eventually it was as tall as a human being, the bottom resting on the ground before me, the top a few inches shorter than me._

_The light began to take form before eventually becoming a pretty girl with dainty features who reminded me a lot of Bonnie._

"_I am glad you came, Rebekah. The diamond has finally found its champion, but I warn you that you must use it wisely and keep it safe. In the wrong hands, it could spell destruction for you all. Follow your heart and do as it tells you, it shall not lead you wrong."_

"_Who are you?" I finally asked, my voice weak and tinny in the open space._

"_My name was once Emily Bennett. My ancestors and I go with you, to help you, to save you, to protect you as you seek to do what needs done to solidify the curse forever. Take our gift, but I warn you not to squander it. Sacrifice will be necessary, but may come in a form you shall not expect. You need to seek the grimoire of Elias Bennett. It should be in the collection left behind by Jonas Martin. Seek wisdom where you can and keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Katherine is not to be trusted. You must kill her before you shall find peace. Also, take special care of yourself and your blessing. The blessing is the only chance you have of surviving this."_

_She began to fade as the sun rose to emerge fully from the horizon. I reached toward her, asking her to wait. "Emily, wait. Please. What gift? What blessing? I don't understand. Please, I need more information!"_

_She shimmered away from sight, but her voice was soft on the breeze. "Seek the grimoire, protect the blessing, fulfill your destiny."_

I fell to my knees to find myself kneeling in calf-high green grass which moved gently in the wind creating waves of green all the way down to the small glassy pond. I felt Damon beside me, kneeling and waiting. I turned to him and watched as relief flooded his features.

"Oh thank God! I didn't think you were ever going to wake up! I tried to stop you, but you pushed me off and just kept going. I couldn't stop you, no matter how hard I tried. What the hell just happened?"

I swallowed and shivered as the chill in the air hit my exposed skin. "I just got answers…from Emily Bennett."

Damon's eyes grew wide and his face paled slightly. "What did she tell you?"

"A lot of things I didn't really understand, but one thing was crystal clear. I need to go through the Martin grimoires to find the one belonging to Elias Bennett. The process for solidifying the curse is supposed to be there."

Damon stood up, scooping me into his arms and running back to the house with me. He drew me a hot bath to warm me before helping me dress and carrying me back down to the ground floor despite my protests to search for what I needed. While I was relieved to have a direction, Emily's words haunted me. I still couldn't sort what she meant by my blessing. Was it Damon? He held my heart and he certainly felt like a blessing, but considering what I knew of Damon's past with Emily, I wasn't entirely sure she would feel the same about him. I also wondered what she meant by squandering the gift. There was so much I didn't understand. I just hoped Elias' book would help me sort out the rest of her cryptic message.


	15. Chapter 15

_**Author's Note: So this one is a sweet developmental chapter, but I couldn't resist. In looking online at Civil War era dresses, I happened across this picture and before even reading the file name, I thought it was perfect. Imagine my surprise when I found out the girl in the picture's name was Rebekah, even spelled the same way. Freak coincidence right? She even had the right color hair. I have removed her face for her privacy as it was a real person who was featured on her Aunt's blog. I guess the aunt worked for SIX months to make that dress. At any rate, I thought you might enjoy seeing what I'm doing my best to describe :)**_

(Link to image of the dress…paste and remove spaces to go to link. Acullewannabe. Blogspot. com)

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**Chapter 15**

Damon flopped on the bed next to me as I flipped another page of Elias Bennett's grimoire. "So, find anything yet?"

I groaned, resisting the urge to toss the relic across the room in frustration, instead settling for laying it forcefully across my stomach before letting out a low screech. "This is like looking for a needle in a pile of needles. The man babbled incessantly and buried his spells, which I really don't understand anyway, within layers and layers of rhymes and nonsense. I'm guessing it's the closest thing he had to securing it at the time, but OH MY God, I want to rip my eyes out of their sockets just to end the torture."

Damon chuckled before taking the book from me with a delicate touch. He scanned a few pages before blinking up at me with an angelic look that was always anything but angelic.

"What?"

He licked his lower lip before slipping a little further down on the bed. "It's really not that hard if you understand the code."

He'd been right to slip down as my first reaction was to grab my pillow from behind my back and smack him with it. He blocked the blow with his arm while laughing loudly before reaching over to tug me next to him. Once tucked into his side, I watched as he pointed to the garbled words, drawing patterns that soon started to point out specific words, when read in order suddenly made complete sense.

I leaned up to look at him with a scowl. "How do you know how to _do _that?"

He chuckled again, resting the book on his legs before reaching to push my hair back over my shoulder. "You forget I've lived a long time. Elias was only one generation before my time, his tricks were still in use during my youth. Stefan and I used to make a big game of encrypting letters to one another when we were young. We even did it with a few of the letters we exchanged while I was serving the Confederacy, before I deserted and ran home only to meet my death at the hands of Katherine. There were several times I thought that I would have been much better off staying to die on the fields of battle."

I frowned, opening my mouth to protest when he smirked, covering my mouth before tracing my lips with a finger. "I assure you, those thoughts were prior to finding you, my Bekah. Your optimism is beginning to rub off on me, especially the thought that all of that was for the purpose of finding you now."

I smiled before leaning up to kiss his lips softly. He captured my face in his hands, caressing my cheeks with his thumbs as he loved to do when he kissed me. Eventually, he pulled away to stare into my eyes.

"Speaking of finding you and ultimate purposes, you have your proposal, your ring, my devotion…the only question now is when and where." He quirked his eyebrow at me in challenge, making me giggle.

"Don't you think we have bigger things to face right now? Shouldn't we wait until after all of this is behind us?"

In an instant, the book disappeared from his lap to rest safely atop the bedside table before he pinned me to the mattress, his eyes as serious as I'd ever seen them. "That's exactly why I think we should do it now…sooner rather than later. I want this; I want us bound before the world goes to shit."

I licked my lips before tugging one of my hands free from his very gentle grasp. I pushed his hair back before cupping his cheek in my hand. He leaned into my touch with a sigh, his eyes closing briefly before opening again, with a pleading expression.

I took in a long, slow breath before letting it out again. "Okay. I love you. I want to be with you, so okay."

His eyes danced as a bright smile spread across those delicious lips. "Really?"

I giggled and nodded. "Really."

He rolled us onto our side, his left hand moving to caress my hair as he gazed at me, almost looking star struck. It was something I hadn't gotten used to and perhaps never would.

"What do you want for the wedding? I…I know weddings are really important to women and I don't want you to miss out on anything. I guess my rushing this might be keeping some of that from happening and I don't want that either. I just don't want to risk this going…badly."

I reached over to stop him this time with a kiss before pulling back. I nibbled on my lip, reaching a finger out to trace the edge of his jaw.

"I don't need a big fancy wedding. I never wanted that. I guess if I really thought about it, I would want it to be somewhere special, with my friends and family there. Stefan and Elena, of course, Jenna, Alaric, Bonnie, Caroline…" I tried to think of other names, but really that was the extent of who I really wanted to be there…even if Jenna would never understand. "Huh, yeah, I guess I never wanted a big wedding to begin with. That sounds perfect to me…my loved ones, a nice venue, but not overly fancy, a nice dress…and you."

I looked back to his eyes to see him blink back some moisture before pulling me flush with is body, his lips finding my temple as his hands smoothed down my back. "Well, you're going to get all of that and more if I have my way. You deserve not only everything you want, but all the things you never allowed yourself to think of. I promise. We might do this fast, but we're going to do it right."

Damon made the light go out before his lips found mine in the darkness, his hands slow and reverent as they explored the peaks and valleys of my silhouette. I felt the worshipful spirit of his touch as he made love to me, carefully, gently, and most of all selflessly. I drifted off into a fully sated sleep in his arms after I lost count of how many times he had led me to release. It was more perfect than I could describe.

I woke the next morning to Damon's hands drifting down my hair and over my back, massaging at the muscles in my lower back with gentle precision before his lips trailed where his hands had just manipulated my muscles into submission.

"Wake up, my beautiful Bekah. I have something I want to show you."

I blinked my eyes open slowly before raising up to find Damon fully dressed and smiling like a kid on Christmas morning, dragging me out of bed to go open the waiting presents. He tossed me a set of clothes before dashing into the bathroom to start my shower. Within fifteen minutes, my hair still damp as he wouldn't even give me time to dry it, I let Damon lead me through the house to a room at the end of a hallway I'd only traveled during my tour. I vaguely remembered it was the storage area where some of the family's most priceless treasures were stored in carefully monitored, temperature controlled rooms. He pulled out a key and opened the door before leading me into the room full of draped items and ordered display cases.

Leading me by the hand, we walked to the end of the middle row before turning left and then right before making another left. I gasped as I found myself standing before a glass case where the most amazing civil war era ball gown I had ever seen was displayed on a mannequin…a gown I had adored for as long as I could remember. It still looked like new behind the glass, creamy satin bunching and draping across a boat neck bodice with delicate black lace, red trim, and red roses. The bodice was fitted and then led to more trimmed satin resting in soft waves atop the skirt that fell to the floor in red trimmed, cream satin ruffles. I blinked up at Damon for an explanation as he just smiled down at me, looking puffed up and pleased with himself.

"Now you know you can say no if you don't want to wear this, but this dress was my mother's. It's been preserved all of these years, only brought out every once in a while for the historic society to display it at Founder's Day events and what not."

"I know," I gasped in interruption. "One of the few things I enjoyed about the Founder's day events was seeing this dress."

If Damon's chest could have expanded any further, it would have. "Just say the word, sweetheart, and it's yours. I'd love nothing more than to have you wear it when we get married…that is if you want to wear it, if you'd rather wear something more modern, I'd completely understand."

I blinked up at him through my tears, shaking my head slowly. "Damon, you can't be serious. This is far too priceless, and the damage that could come to it. I mean my body oils alone might destroy such a treasure. I could never stand…"

Damon lifted his hand to cut me off. "I don't care about any of that. Dresses were meant to be worn and enjoyed, not to rot away with age on a mannequin, and no matter how preserved, eventually it will. This was a dress my mother made herself as a dowry if she and father ever gave Stefan and I a sister. When it became clear that day would never come, Father persuaded her to wear it to the last ball she ever attended. She made it clear to us all though, that she hoped that while she never had a daughter to endow with the gift, that someday her daughter-in-law might be given it, or even wear it as her wedding gown. She would have wanted this, Bekah, I know she would have."

I licked my lips and moved to touch the glass encasement, my other hand resting on top of my lips. "Do you know how many boring Founder's Day events I stood staring at this dress, daydreaming of wearing it and dancing in some grand ballroom with a handsome date? It was the only thing that got me through some of those horrid nights. It's more than I ever dreamed, but I'm not sure that it's right."

He started to protest when I held out my hand to his, grabbing it and stopping his words with my grasp. "I insist you run this by Stefan first. She was his mother too, and he might not appreciate us taking this risk with such a priceless thing. I already have her ring, perhaps we should leave this legacy for Elena. I don't want to steal from her all the blessings marrying into this family provides."

I glanced over my shoulder with a sly smile as he frowned down at me looking hurt. I moved to wrap my arms around him, resting my head against his sternum. "Thank you, Damon. Just the offer has provided me with the fulfillment of a dream I never expected to see come true. Even if we decide not to have me wear this dress, maybe we can have one like it made or something. I think it's a perfect idea. I think we should have a theme wedding, surrounding you, Damon. We can have a ceremony somewhere here in town, even here at the house if you want. We can all dress up, have the ceremony, and then dance the night away in the ballroom. That sounds like perfection to me. What do you say?"

Damon stared at me for the longest time, his gaze focused and serious before the lights began to dance across his sapphire blue eyes. He laughed loudly as he picked me up and twirled me in the air, making me giggle. When I was placed back on my feet, his lips captured mine in a searing kiss before he pulled away, seeming almost giddy.

"Let's do it. Let's do it all, but first things first. We need to get up to the clerk's office and apply for a marriage license before we do anything. It takes a few days for all the paperwork to go through, and we don't want to run the risk of not getting all of that in order."

I chuckled, cocking my head at him. "When did you become the practical planner, Damon?"

He smiled and shrugged. "When I want something, I'm willing to do what's necessary to make sure it happens, and I want this more than I've ever wanted anything."

I smirked up at him, moving closer to brush myself against his chest. "Anything?"

His eyes darkened as he took in a slow breath before grinding out. "Almost anything." He grabbed me around the waist holding me to him as he drifted his nose down the column of my neck and back up again before he picked me up and carried me through the room and back to the door. "But we have time for that later. First…the county clerk's office."

I watched him lock the door before something hit me. "Isn't it going to be a problem getting official paperwork for you?"

He chuckled darkly before sweeping me up in his arms again. "I have my ways. I can be very persuasive when I want to be." I could hear the power of compulsion in his voice and chuckled.

"Just be kind to the poor woman. You don't want to give old Mrs. Wallace a heart attack or anything."

He laughed before dashing down the stairs and to the front door. Elena and Stefan were walking in as we dashed out, surprised to see us. Damon turned around, slowing his pace as he walked backwards.

"Hey, Stefan, when we get back from filing for a marriage certificate, we have something we need to ask you."

I smiled and kissed his cheek, whispering a thank you into his ear as Stefan agreed. In a blink of an eye, I was sitting in the passenger side of Damon's car before it fired up and we took off like a shot down the driveway and into town.

It only took a little of Damon's skill, but an hour later, he and I were walking back into the Salvatore house where Stefan and Elena were waiting on the couch. They looked up at us with bright smiles.

"So, is it official now?" Elena asked with a wink.

"Well, we've applied and paid the fee. Now it's just a matter of the papers coming back to make it legal. I'm not sure why he insists on it being legal and all, but…" I shrugged, not knowing how to continue.

Stefan sat up and smirked before stretching out his arms along the back on the sofa. "So when are we having this little party?"

"Well, that depends on you, little brother. Bekah insisted that we talk to you first, but I offered her Mother's dress."

The smile fell from Stefan's face immediately. "No, it's okay, Stefan. I don't have to wear it. We shouldn't have even asked. We can commission a replica or something. I understand. I'll make some calls."

Stefan continued to frown as he cocked his head at me before it began to shake back and forth slowly. "No, wait, Bekah. Can…can I think about it?"

I nodded without hesitation, but Damon was quick to speak up behind me. "Just don't take too long. It's going to take some time to make a dress like that and I won't want to wait any longer than we have to."

Elena's head snapped between all of us as we spoke. "What dress?"

I smiled at her, nibbling my lower lip. "Do you remember that amazing cream ball gown with the red roses on it in the case at the Founder's Day events?"

Elena's eyes lit up. "You mean the one that you always talked about when I was little?" She turned to Stefan, her face animated as her hands moved in front of her. "You should have heard her, Stefan. She used to take me when I was bored to look at it and she told me all of these amazing stories about a time when ladies were real ladies and gentlemen were polite. She loved that dress so much and the stories she told were so vivid I felt like I was there. It made the Founder's Day pageants seem like pale imitations. It's part of what made me sign up for the pageant last fall."

I smiled at her and nodded. "I bet you were gorgeous."

"She was," both Damon and Stefan said at the same time, causing Elena to blush as she glanced to each one before ducking her head.

"I'm glad. She was always meant to be part of all of that…not me. I loved the dresses and the idea, but I was never really meant to be part of all that formality. All the founding family stuff and the sense of not belonging always got in the way of me getting to enjoy it like I would have otherwise. That's part of the reason why I think it would be amazing to have a theme wedding. For once, I'll belong there."

Stefan smirked up at me as Damon stepped behind me to pull me close, kissing my shoulder. "That you will, more than anyone else."

Stefan smiled at us before looking at Elena and then back to us. "That dress has really always meant that much to you?"

I nodded. "I think the first time I ever saw it I was five. It was the only thing I looked forward to from those Founder's Day events after that."

He looked at Elena again who was nodding her agreement before looking back to me. "Okay then, obviously it means the world to you and it was the only thing Mother really wanted from us. I think she would be honored if you wore that gown. The dress if yours if you honestly want it."

My eyes watered as Damon squeezed my waist. I felt him mouth a thank you to his brother seconds before I gave my own teary oath of appreciation. Stefan stood up and walked closer, placing a hand on my arm, and to my relief, for once Damon didn't seem to react to Stefan touching me.

"No, thank you. I look forward to seeing my brother finally happy."

"What do you mean seeing? You're going to stand up with me, aren't you?" Damon quipped from behind me, his chin resting on my shoulder.

The emotions on Stefan's face were priceless. "I'd truly be honored, brother."

I took my moment to turn to Elena who was teary-eyed beside Stefan. "I would love it if you would stand up with me as well, Elena."

"Oh, Aunt Bekah, I'd love to," she weeped as she ran to hug my neck as Damon released me to allow it. I smiled and held her close, thanking her in a whisper before bringing up the next big hurdle.

"Now I just have to figure out a way to explain this to Jenna."

Elena pulled back with a worried expression that made me laugh. Yes, out of all of this, Jenna was most certainly going to be the trickiest part.


	16. Chapter 16

_**Author's Note: I'm known for rollercoaster rides, so be forewarned ;) I got this chapter and the next done last night in a WC, so 17 will post tomorrow. Thanks to my pre-readers MissSherrie and Elohcin, and to the WC ladies who keep saying they enjoy this in spite of having never watched the show…and MizzDee, the only one who does whose excitement makes me smile wider. Thank you for all of your awesome reviews. They help me keep moving forward!**_

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**Chapter 16**

I was done with playing hooky after my day off to go with Damon for the marriage certificate. I'd been a good girl, did all my homework, planning, and had perfect attendance after that. Things were good. We'd set a date, commissioned gowns for all the girls, and even had a few of the town's important members invite themselves to the wedding. By insistence of Mayor Lockwood, my small private wedding with just the people I cared about became a whole town event. She and the historical society ladies were horrified that I planned to wear the Salvatore dress in the ceremony, but eventually conceded and began working to make our wedding a historic event. I wasn't happy about that, but at least the ballroom would feel a little more like a true wedding celebration with a crowd of guests.

As difficult as the hoity toity women of Mystic Falls had been at the news, that was nothing in comparison to Jenna's reaction when Elena and I sat her down the night after Damon and I filed the paperwork at the kitchen table of the Gilbert family homestead. I was determined to catch her before the rumor could spread to her through the town gossip machine.

"Excuse me? Did I _hear_ you right? Did you seriously just inform me that after knowing DAMON Salvatore, one of the biggest jerks to walk the face of the planet for less than a month you are now _engaged to him? _Who are you and what have you done with the intelligent Rebekah Gilbert I know and love? Have we done some sort of scary personality switch or something? This is so unlike you!"

She was babbling on so fast that I didn't get the chance to interrupt to explain, then when she did finally pause the look on her face made me pause in surprise. Her mouth hung open and her eyes bugged out before she slapped the table so hard it rattled, her goggling eyes staring at my stomach.

"Oh my GOD, Please tell me you aren't pregnant! Is this is shotgun wedding? Did he like hypnotize you, knock you up, and coerce you to marry him?"

At this point, I busted out laughing so hard tears came to my eyes. I could hear Elena giggle next to me as Jenna looked between the two of us in desperation.

"What? You think this is funny? This is SO not funny!"

I reached out to rest a hand on top of Jenna's, while still struggling to regain my breath. If only she knew how ridiculously off-base her assumptions were. I shook my head slowly as I keep my eyes locked with hers.

"This is not a shotgun wedding, Jenna. I promise you. I know you don't understand it because sometimes I'm bewildered by it myself, but I love Damon…with all my heart. He's different with me…we're soul mates, in the truest sense of the word."

I glanced at Elena who nodded her head slightly with a crooked smile. She agreed that the wording couldn't have been more perfect for the bond I shared with Damon. However crazy and messed up it might seem, we changed one another fundamentally in the course of just a week. No matter what lie ahead, we would never be the Damon and Bekah we had been before we found each other. Our hearts had real homes now, and that would never, ever change.

Jenna had been slow to convince, but eventually she agreed to not only attend, but stand up with me as a bridesmaid…and our wedding party was set. Elena would be my maid of honor, escorted by Stefan, Damon's best man, and then Jeremy would escort his Aunt Jenna as our other groomsman. In that one small grouping, all the people I truly embraced as my family would be by our side, and that thought made me happier than I had been in a long time. When Damon and I made things official, my family would then finally be whole. I didn't count my half brother brooding somewhere across town, hating me enough not to even make contact with me since my return, and we won't even discuss the mystical rapist with whom I share blood. No, I didn't want them; much less need them to make me whole.

We managed to arrange the entire wedding in three weeks…five weeks and two days before I turned 30…five weeks and two days before I would finally be ready to do whatever it was I had to do to end the curse for good.

I pushed back that thought as I clamored out of my car, tugging my heavy bag behind me. I had a lot of planning to do before the end of the week to provide for my sub while I was honeymooning with Damon. Due to the situation at hand, we weren't going far, but even a small getaway was better than nothing.

Damon greeted me with a kiss before taking my bag and leading me to the kitchen. My appetite had been insane the last few weeks and yet I didn't seem to gain any weight. I pondered the possibilities of a vampire metabolism kicking in and how awesome that would be if it meant I could eat my weight in chocolate and not have to worry about my waistline. I smiled gratefully, taking a bite of the peanut butter and jelly sandwich on the counter while Damon spread out my work on the large dining table. He was determined to help me sort out work so I would think of nothing but him for our short week away. Oh how far he'd come from the arrogant, self-serving ass he'd been when we met.

I took another bite feeling as if something was missing. Getting up from the stool at the counter Damon had settled me in, I moved to the fridge, opening it to stare in at the assortment the boys kept around for Elena and me. I scanned some succulent fruit, turning my nose up at it before my eyes fell on a glass jar of bread and butter pickles cut thin to put on sandwiches and my mouth watered. Grabbing the bottle, I pulled it out, popping open the lid and tossing two slices inside my sandwich. I was putting away the bottle when Damon walked in, looking at me as if I'd lost my mind.

"What on earth are you doing?"

I shrugged. "It just sounded like a good combination. You know me; I like strange things together sometimes."

He watched me with a cocked brow as I lifted the sandwich and took a bite, humming at my new taste creation while his face took on a revolted look. I giggled before taking another few bites. Stefan and Elena came in, giving me equally skeptical looks when Damon told them all about my new culinary experimentation.

"You know, Aunt Bekah, if I didn't know better, I'd say Aunt Jenna's first assumption wasn't so crazy."

"What assumption?" Damon asked, moving to rub my back as he sat a glass of milk in front of me.

I took another bite before chasing it immediately with the milk, swishing it all together in my mouth as Elena passed me a napkin and answered on my behalf.

"Jenna immediately thought that she was pregnant and it was a shotgun wedding. It was hilarious actually…but now I'm beginning to wonder."

I rolled my eyes before eating the last corner of crust and picking up my glass of milk to disappear into the dining room. There were a few more hushed comments before Damon came out to sit beside me, eyeing me closely.

I sighed, setting down my papers before looking at him through my eyelashes. "You said it yourself, Damon. Vampires don't reproduce."

He just stared at me, in that Damon way that made my inside turn to goo and also made me feel like I was under an interrogator's light all at the same time. I ignored it and went back to my work. Eventually he tugged over another pile and started grading a test for me, dropping the subject for the time being, but I could tell he was still worried.

I ate a normal supper before going to bed with Damon, but woke up just before the dawn with my stomach rolling in discomfort. I sat up and covered my mouth just before I jumped out of bed and ran to slide in front of the toilet, all the contents left in my stomach from the night before coming up in violent torrents.

I didn't think it would ever end and felt mortified when Damon showed up behind me to hold my hair before handing me a damp cloth that he had flashed to grab for me from the sink. I wiped my mouth, thanking him with a slurred tongue before flushing and shuffling to the sink to rinse out my mouth. It took three rounds and a hurried brushing before my mouth felt fresh again.

I looked up into the mirror after spitting the last rinsing to see Damon standing behind me looking terrified. I turned slowly to lean against the sink, crossing my arms.

"Damon, humans get sick. It's not the end of the world. I'll be fine."

He shook his head slowly as he stared at my stomach. "Don't you HEAR that?"

I listened around the room and didn't hear a thing. I watched as he stared at me in surprise before moving to kneel in front of me, resting his ear against my stomach. He was the palest I had ever seen him when he pulled back again, his pupils mere pinpricks in a sea of blue sapphire.

"How can you not hear that?" His eyes began to water before he rested his ear over my stomach again.

I relaxed my body and listed. Eventually I stilled enough to hear the steady thud of my own heart, but not far away was the teeny, tiny, barely audible triple time thud coming from inside me.

I gasped my eyes growing wide and filling with tears, as I had honestly believed that this was impossible. "How?"

Damon looked up at me in surprise. "You're an anomaly?" It seemed to be the only thing he could come up, but he seemed question the theory himself.

I lifted my hands to my face and sobbed. "I never…why didn't I think of this? How? What?"

Then realization really began to set in and my heart picked up speed so it was nearly as fast as the tiny thud far below my navel. "The blessing…Emily said to protect the blessing…that the blessing will save me. Do you think?"

Damon stood up then, his face serious as he cupped my face with his hands. "She's right. This is _a baby_, a life we made together. It's a miracle that I never in a million years ever dreamed…and you…you CAN'T risk his or her life on this curse thing. You can't…Oh God."

He pulled me into his arms; his face nestled in the crook of my shoulder as we both sobbed. It was a bittersweet combination of amazement and awe mixed with fear and confusion. Eventually we pulled apart to stare at each other, Damon's eyes looking pained as he saw to look in my own.

"I can't walk away from this. Even with the baby. Emily said to protect the blessing, that the blessing would keep me safe, but she also said I had to solidify the curse and kill Katherine to ever have peace. Obviously I'm still going to have to do this even though I'm pregnant."

Damon's eyes grew wide and panicked. "No, you can't. I can't let you. You can't do this! That's MY baby in there…I can't let you walk up to death and tap it on the shoulder while you're carrying my child."

I was crying again, my sobs making my entire body shake. "I'm sorry, Damon."

His pain and terror disappeared as his eyes went blank, his face cold as the mask I hadn't seen in quite some time slid back into place. "You will be sorry. You're not going to do this to us. I won't let you."

With that, he flashed to the closet, changed his clothes before I could register the movement, and disappeared through our bedroom door. Everything was falling apart and only two days before the wedding. My stomach clenched and I turned toward the toilet, heaving into the bowl but getting nothing but thin yellow bile that tasted like rotten eggs.

I gagged a few more times before I moved to the sink to brush my teeth again before calling the school. At this rate, I was going to be fired, but to be totally honest I didn't care anymore. I dressed slowly and shuffled out into the hallway, making it to the staircase just as a laughing Stefan and Elena came from the other wing. When they saw me, they rushed to my side, Elena asking what was wrong as Stefan froze and stared at me in surprise before blinking down at my stomach.

I began to sob again, nodding through my tears. I let them lead me downstairs before telling them the entire story. Elena cried next to me while Stefan promised to be back soon and disappeared into the morning sun in search of his brother, who we all knew was no longer in the house. I didn't know where he was or what was going to happen, but I had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach that had nothing to do with morning sickness. I didn't want to believe it, but a part of me worried that I might have just lost my soul mate forever, and in a way I really couldn't blame him.

I felt more trapped in that moment than ever before in my life. Risk myself and the baby to save several innocent teenagers and the rest of humanity from the slaughter that would follow, or put my baby first and step away from the entire situation? It was a question without a real right answer and yet I knew that there was. The mother in me, as tiny as she was since I had never had any real maternal instinct in my life, screamed for me to run, to protect my baby, to fight tooth and nail to keep him or her safe. When I considered the world that would arise if I didn't take action, I knew it was no life for my child. I knew that we didn't know what was going to happen to the two of us, but there was a chance we would be fine. There was a chance we would escape unscathed. It was a chance I was going to have to take, because the alternative was unfathomable.

Emily Bennett had told me that I would have to sacrifice and it might be something I didn't expect. Would my sacrifice be Damon? The thought alone tore me to pieces inside, my soul literally rendered in two at the thought of life without him…but I had no choice. Whatever repercussions, my path was set, and I had to believe that in the end, at the very least, my baby would be saved. It was my only hope.


	17. Chapter 17

_**Author's note: Hopefully this eases some of the weakened stomachs thanks to the freefall in the last chapter. Extra plus…I got to utilize another picture from my banner. If you haven't seen it yet, I have it posted on my blog acullenwannabe dot blogspot dot com! Thanks to my lovely prereaders Sherrie and Nichole for keeping me straight! Hope you enjoy it!**_

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**Chapter 17**

Elena called herself and Stefan into school as she sat beside me while I just cried. I couldn't stop. My life was falling apart in front of me and I was more or less powerless to stop it. Well, yeah, I had the power to stop it, but I couldn't at the expense of all of humanity. I could never live with myself, so essentially my hands were tied.

About an hour after he left, Stefan called, letting me know he'd found Damon safe and sound, downing a bottle of bourbon at the Grill. He suggested I come up and talk to him before he relocated somewhere less easy to reach. With shaky legs, I stood up and walked to the door, surrendering the keys when Elena asked for them seeing as how I was in no condition to drive.

My heart pounded in my chest and I felt sorry for the baby if he or she was feeling the emotional turmoil I was currently feeling. I felt like I was literally dying, my body ripping itself apart from the inside out, beginning with my heart. I prayed that the teeny, tiny, newly formed baby inside me was too young to be affected by my emotions, and protected enough that my stress wasn't risking having a miscarriage.

When we pulled up in front of the grill, a new round of tears started as Elena led me to the door. I opened it slowly and gasped at the sight of Damon sitting at the bar, leaning over it with his forehead resting against his left hand. He looked so lost and hurt that it made my heart break all over again.

I moved slowly, as if approaching a wild rabbit in hopes of getting close enough to get a better look without frightening it away. To my relief, he didn't move…not even a single muscle twitched as I approached.

I saw Stefan nod from the far end of the room over Damon's left shoulder and move toward the door where Elena stood waiting. With a quiet click, we were left alone in the empty room as the manager disappeared into the storeroom to do inventory.

We stood there in silence, his eyes trained on the glass in front of him as I just stared, my heart crushing inside my chest a little more with each agonizing second. Finally, he turned to me, his eyes hard and indifferent.

"You're not going to change your mind, are you?"

I swallowed before shaking my head, a fresh flood of tears flowing down my cheeks.

I buried my face in my hands and tried to wipe away the moist remnants, but they came too fast. I felt him in front of me before I heard his voice crack with a single syllable question… "Why?"

I sobbed and hiccupped until I felt a cool glass of water being pressed into the back of my hand. "Please take a drink," his voice was soft and warm.

I hiccupped again, taking the glass from his hand and taking a shaky sip before sitting it down beside me.

"There's no guarantee that we'll be hurt, Emily more or less stated that the baby wouldn't." He started to protest, but I lifted my fingers to halt him. "Please let me finish. If I don't do something, then the world is going to go to hell, almost literally. Family and friends I love will die, either being forced to break the curse or at the hands of Klaus and Elijah if Stefan were to change Elena and destroy their doppelganger sacrifice. If they did manage to break the curse, what kind of a world would that be for our child to live in? Even if I do nothing and protect him or her from this, how long before life as we know it is destroyed and he or she is left a slave to the vampires at best."

I felt relief and hope flood my system as his eyes softened, pain and understanding combined in those beautiful blue eyes that I feared would only look on me in hate.

"What if we can keep both of those scenarios from happening without you doing anything?"

I shook my head. "I don't believe that possibility exists, but if it did, I would take it in a heartbeat."

He took in two slow breaths before tears drifted down his cheeks and he moved to scoop me up in an embrace filled with passion of another flavor. I was used to sexual passion and even loving passion, but this was fierce, protective, and also totally devoted and loving and I smiled in spite of myself as I realized that this was my first taste of Damon the husband and father. The Damon that was going to move heaven and earth to save the world without risking his family, and I knew my life wasn't falling apart as I had feared, but rather piecing together more firmly than ever before.

He buried his nose in the crook of my neck and breathed in and out slowly before finally moving back to look at me. "Is it possible to be living in heaven and hell at the same time?"

I shook my head. "I don't know, but I definitely feel like I just got a reprieve. Believing I'd probably lost you just now about ripped me apart. It would have been impossible to live like that."

He leaned back, capturing my face in his hands and brushing away the tears that continued to fall. I swore that if I didn't plug the leaks soon, I was going to dehydrate.

He let out a loud sigh before closing his eyes and resting his forehead against mine, the scent of bourbon drifting across my face on his breath. "Yeah, me too. It hurt bad enough that I wished I could still shut off my emotions to escape it, but I couldn't. It was getting almost impossible before, but I think you destroyed that option now."

I smirked up at him. "Good. I don't want you disappearing on me again."

He smiled back before smoothing back my messy hair. "Don't worry. You couldn't shake me if you tried."

He kissed my lips softly before leading me out of the bar and back to his car parked alongside the building. I melted into the seat and shut my eyes, my head pounding from the strain of the morning and the rivers of tears. I think I drifted off on the car ride home, as I found myself being carried inside when I opened my eyes again.

Damon tucked me closer, kissing my temple before leading me back up to our bedroom where he tucked me between the covers and climbed in behind me, cuddling to my back and resting a hand over my abdomen. I smiled before drifting back into the sweet escape of sleep.

I woke up several hours later to find Damon sitting up in bed reading What to Expect While You're Expecting, a tray sat on the bedside table with a pile of saltine crackers and a small bottle of bubbly seltzer water. I smiled looking back to see him staring intently at the book, his forehead deeply furrowed in either concentration or confusion. Without missing a beat, he glanced down at me, flashing me the page he was reading.

"Did you realize that when the baby grows it smooshes all of your internal organs inside your body?"

I chuckled, "I assumed it would have to or else the baby would never fit."

His eyes twinkled at the smiled down at me before he jumped and spun around to grab the tray before sitting it beside me on the bed. "From what I've read this is supposed to help with the morning sickness, which most people say is a misnomer. I also asked Stefan to go buy a lot more fruit and orange juice and whole grain foods. Nutrition is really important while the baby is growing. Oh, and I also told him to get you some of those prenatal vitamins. Folic Acid is crucial."

I was laughing by this point, wondering if it was possible to adore him any more than I already did, and then realizing that this was probably the tip of the iceberg. "Thank you, sweetheart, but how do you know this pregnancy is going to be a normal one."

He shrugged. "We cover all of the bases. From what I understand, nobody had any reason to suspect your gestation was anything but normal, so who knows."

I smiled, scooting up to hug myself to his side, kissing his cheek before resting my head on his sternum and reading from the book as he continued to skim. If only things were going to remain this normal. I had to hope that we'd get the happy family Damon was preparing for when the dust finally settled.


	18. Chapter 18

_**Author's Note: Cavity Inducing sweetness break with a small bit o' drama. Hope you enjoy the update. Thanks to Nichole, who read this over and nabbed a few of my errors while on Vacay, and S**_**herrie for prereading for me! Hope you enjoy the chapter.**

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**Chapter 18**

Things were weird for the next few days as we all tried to reconcile the reality that I was having a baby with everything else going on. I was only about five weeks or so along, so I wasn't even close to showing yet. Between early timing and the morning sickness, my gown still fit fine. I stood in front of the mirror in the changing room on the second floor of the historic society's building downtown, staring at myself in the mirror, my gloved hands trembling with nerves.

Wanting to be able to actually reach Damon to slow dance at our wedding reception, and sit down without major hoopskirt drama, I ended up opting for a more modern, less massive alternative to the four foot diameter hoop skirt that the dress was designed to be worn with, instead going with a much narrower skirt. It still gave the dress shape, but didn't make me look like a Thanksgiving Parade float. It also had the added benefit of giving me a little more length as I was a bit taller than Mrs. Salvatore had expected her daughter-in-law to be. The compromise ended up working out perfectly.

In addition to my gown, I was wearing matching satin gloves that reached nearly to my elbows and a long, cathedral length veil sewn with tiny little white pearls. While traditionally I should have worn my hair down, I opted instead to only wear the front part up, pinned back in a traditional orange blossom and crystal tiara, leaving the rest to trail down my back under the veil. I had worried it wasn't the right decision when I finally put the dress on, but when Jenna and Elena saw me and started tearing up, I decided that my instincts might have been correct after all.

A knock on the door told me it was time and with careful steps in my small, but perilous heels, I walked to the door. I expected to find Jenna and Elena telling me that it was time to get lined up, but instead I found my brother standing at the door with a stern expression on his face.

"Rebekah," he greeted in a cold, detached tone, bowing his head slightly toward me.

I swallowed and willed my heart to slow. "What do you want, John? You haven't bothered to seek me out before now, so why show up on my wedding day, minutes before I walk down the aisle."

John sighed, fixing his icy blue gaze upon me. "While there is no love lost between the two of us, I feel I must dissuade you from making this horrendous mistake. You are an affront to everything the name you bear stands for. I cannot believe, with all that you now know, that you would deign to _marry_ one of those creatures!"

I took two deep breaths, my anger welling from my toes to the top of my head. I opened and closed my fists a few times before stepping up to stand nose to nose with the man with whom shared the tiniest bit of blood, but beyond that held no familial care for me.

"Let me make this abundantly clear, John, once and for all. You are not going to ruin this day for me. The Salvatore Brothers have been more like family to me than you ever did. We may share blood, but you are not my family. Damon is the other half of me and in a few short minutes I am going to walk down those stairs, join hands with him, and in front of God, this town, and the entire universe accept him as my eternal and everlasting husband and the father of my child."

My hand reached down in a protective gesture as John's eyes widened and blinked down at my abdomen before looking back at me in horror.

"Yes, John. I am pregnant with Damon Salvatore's child. Apparently, a benefit of being an anomaly is defying the natural order of things, even reproduction. This is happening and there is nothing you can do about it, so I suggest you leave before I call my soon-to-be husband to get rid of you."

I watched John's eyes flash with madness. My fear escalated as I felt the threat growing. I stepped back and he shadowed me, making my heart beat faster.

"It's an abomination. You must get rid of it!"

"You're an abomination, John. Twisted and manipulative, exercising great evil for what you think is the greater good. Well, I have news for you. Evil begets evil, not goodness, and sometimes what others perceive as evil is the greatest goodness others have ever known. You don't understand, can't see for your own blinding hate, what really resides below the surface of those you fight, those you persecute…those you label as abominations."

By this time, we had backed into the changing room and my hands scrambled behind my back to grasp something to defend myself when John reached over to punch a mirror on the wall, grabbing a large sharp length of glass and thrusting it in the direction of my stomach as I stumbled against the wall and screamed.

My eyes had closed on instinct, fearing that this was the end of my life and my baby. When the shock of a stabbing pain never came, I opened my eyes to see John standing with his hand outstretched; the blade only a few inches from my stomach, frozen in space. I glanced down to the diamond glinting above the gold band that rested atop my gloves with grateful appreciation. My relief was even greater as I saw Stefan moving in behind him, his face angry and blooming with the darkened mask of his vampire nature being exposed. In the blink of an eye, John was flying across the room to crash against the mirror he had broken in his pursuit of me before slumping to the ground in a heap.

Stefan was a black blur as he picked up John's limp body and disappeared through the doorway before Elena and Jenna ran in with panicked expressions, helping me to stand up again and straighten myself. Elena reached up with a folded tissue to blot under my eyes where my running tears had ruined my makeup before grabbing the compact to fix me back up while Jenna asked what happened. I didn't know what to tell her or even where to start, so I just told her that John was there to voice his disapproval and grew violent when I refused to end the ceremony. Thankfully, she bought it without further questioning, but I could see the look in her eye that spoke of her that she wasn't sure if she bought it completely.

A few minutes later, Stefan returned with a worried smile. He walked over and hugged me, asking if I was okay. I swallowed and nodded as he looked down at me with that trademark Salvatore smirk.

"I had to physically restrain Damon from killing John, which was difficult enough considering I wanted to do the same. Nobody touches my new sister and niece or nephew without facing the Salvatore fury, but that was nothing compared to the lengths I had to go through to keep Damon from coming up here to check on you. I'm certain that if we don't get this wedding underway immediately, he's going to tear the house down brick by brick to get to you. Are you ready, sweet Bekah?"

I smiled before taking a deep breath and nodding. "More than ever."

He smiled before kissing my forehead and gesturing to Elena who handed me the small bundle of white and red roses with a few small white orange blossoms interwoven amongst the elegant blooms. I took it and licked my lips before allowing Stefan to escort me to the edge of the wall that concealed me from being seen at the top of the balcony. He squeezed my hand gently before moving to stand beside Elena, offering her his arm. They moved to the top of the staircase and with their assuming the position to begin the processional, the string quartet began to play. They looked gorgeous descending the stairs, Elena in a powder blue lacy gown trimmed in royal blue satin. Stefan was a sight to behold in his suit.

I took slow shaky breaths as Jenna and Jeremy moved into position once Stefan and Elena reached the bottom of the staircase, dressed identically to Stefan and Elena. My heart was pounding as the music stopped once they reached the altar. The pause between songs seemed like forever but was probably just a few seconds and at the sound of the first note of the Wedding March, I ordered my feet to move, carrying me forward to stand at the top of the balcony and look down on the seating area full of guests.

All eyes were on me, but my eyes sought out the ones I needed most and didn't leave them once I found them. His eyes were glazed and looked awed as he stared up at me, his hand lifting to his chest to rest over his heart. After a few moments, the awe remained in his eyes but was joined by the slow smile and twinkle of joy and excitement I had grown to know and love. I smiled back at him for a moment before I realized that more than anything I wanted to stand next to him in front of that minister and make him mine officially.

Holding my bouquet in my left hand, I rested my right hand on the rail and took slow, steady steps down, being especially careful of my footing, but stealing glances every few steps at the man I was trying to reach. When I was just a few steps from the bottom, a hand appeared in front of my face. I looked up to see a beaming Damon waiting for me. I took his hand and let him assist me down the last few steps before leading me proudly down the aisle to the altar.

The next ten minutes after we were in place were a blur as the minister spoke briefly about the sanctity of marriage while we just smiled at each other like giddy teenagers. Then the time came for vows, which we had decided to write ourselves. I don't know what I expected, but I was completely unprepared for Damon's words to me. My hands were already trembling slightly as he held them between us, the smooth golden wedding band poised at the tip of my finger. His eyes were locked with mine as he spoke slowly, as if he really were speaking only for me to hear.

"My dearest Rebekah, I have walked the world for more years than I wish to count while bitter, angry, and alone. I buried all of the parts of me that I saw as weakness, caring, compassion, love…I'd hidden them all away under layers of arrogance, anger, and distrust."

He paused and smiled, his eyes shimmering slightly as a tear slipped from my own eyes. "And then I saw you and in a matter of mere minutes you blasted away every defense within me and brought forth those qualities that I now know are my biggest strength instead of my greatest weakness. I promise to love, honor, and protect you with every fiber of my being for all the rest of the days that we walk the face of this earth and far beyond into the depths of eternity."

He slid the golden band down the length of my finger over my gloves to sit delicately against the scrolled band of my engagement ring, lifting the coupled jewelry to his lips to kiss gently before caressing them with his thumb. "All I have, all I am, all I shall ever be is yours till the end of time and beyond. This I promise you…forever."

By the time he was done, I could barely see him through the river of tears. I lifted the tissue tucked in my right hand to blot at my eyes and swallowed past the lump in my throat, fearing I'd never find my voice to speak my own vows to him. I rasped out a whispered, "I love you," between attempts to staunch my tears. He just smiled at me and reached up to wipe away a few of my tears with his thumbs before waiting patiently for me to be ready. Meanwhile, I could hear sniffles all around the room from the other ladies in the audience touched by his words, including my once skeptical best friend behind me at the altar. I smiled and licked my lips before reaching to take his ring from Elena's outstretched hand and held it at the tip of his left ring finger.

"I have always been a free spirit, never believing that marriage and family were in the cards for me. I was content to live life on my own terms as the master of my own fate. Slowly that part of me unraveled to leave me confused and struggling for understanding in the world. I wandered lost for a long time before returning to my hometown only to find my _true_ home waiting for me here…in your arms and in your heart. For the rest of my days I will always be home as long as I am at your side. You give me more love and faith in my future than anybody in my entire life and for as long as I live I will spend my days at your side, and when this life is over, I'll continue to love you forever. Thank you, Damon, for giving me a life worth living and a love I never believed was possible. I am yours forever, and this is my undying promise to you."

A few tears drifted over his sculpted cheekbones as I slid the ring onto his finger and as soon as it was home, he swept me up into his arms, holding me close and telling me that he loved me for always. I cried against his vintage suit coat and though we didn't have approval, his lips found mine as we pulled apart, making the sniffles in the room shift to giggles as the minister rushed through the ending of the ceremony and telling Damon to continue kissing his bride. We chuckled as we continued to kiss and when we finally broke apart we were both smiling like fools.

"And now I suppose it is safe to introduce you all to Mr. and Mrs. Damon Salvatore!"

Cheers rose from the crowd as they all stood and clapped, teary smiles on most of the faces as Damon held my hand and led me down the aisle and out the doorway into the gardens where the reception tents were erected for the next portion of the festivities. He swept me into his arms and spun me, with a loud whoop before capturing my lips again and again.

Eventually Stefan and Elena convinced us to let go of one another long enough to form the receiving line for the individuals already leaving the building to congratulate us on their way to the reception area. We begrudgingly released one another and attempted to muster the energy to thank the scores of people we didn't even want at our wedding for coming, both resenting the Mayor and the Historical Society for hijacking our day, but our resentments ended the second the line did and we got to enter the large white tents.

Our first order of business as husband and wife, according to Damon, was our first dance. If everyone was hungry then too damn bad because he wanted to dance with his wife and he was determined to do it. When the music started, I was surprised at Damon's choice, although I did marvel at the sweetness and the irony he tossed in considering that Sia's My Love had recently been featured in the Twilight Movies. Sparkly vampires were a bit of a grievance of his, so he poked fun at the series every chance he got, although he had softened to Edward slightly since finding me, according to Stefan and Elena.

We moved slowly, elegantly across the floor in a waltz like cadence as we stared into one another's eyes, and then I really got it. This was his testimony to me, the vows were just a beginning to what he was really confessing, promising, pledging as the second verse began.

My love, leave yourself behind  
Beat inside me, leave you blind  
My love, look what you can do  
I am mending, I'll be with you

You took my hand added a plan  
You gave me your heart  
I asked you to dance with me

You gave honestly

Did What you could release.

AAahhh Oooo

I tipped up and captured his lips as the song ended sweetly, not wanting the moment to end, but knowing it had to. We went through the rest of the traditions, cutting the cake and sharing the champagne toast before beginning the big meal that the boys had coughed up the money to pay for. After all the obligatory reception hoopla, Damon and I spent the rest of the night in each other's arms, dancing and kissing the night away, oblivious to the hundred plus guests that surrounded us.

We left around ten that night in a shower of rice and cheering crowds, Damon dashing me off into the night to our nearby hideaway where we would be spending the next week wrapped in each other's arms and enjoying the benefits of married life. To my great surprise, Damon had rented us a cabin in the woods on the edge of a lake where privacy was the word of the day, and skinny dipping was one of the first things on our agenda, as well as making love in the moonlight. It was the most perfect night of my life and no matter what lie ahead of us, I would forever cherish the day Damon Salvatore became my husband.


	19. Chapter 19

_**Author's Note: Sorry it's been a while. I've been majorly focused on the novel I'm writing so I can make deadline and everything else sort of fell away for a bit. I'm getting really close to the end of the novel though, so with any luck I will have a little more free time in the not so distant future to wrap this fic up for us all. :) Thanks to my prereaders MissSherrie and Elohcin for helping me find some of my errors. Also a big thanks to my WC ladies for their input and to all of you for your reviews. **_

_**Now to pimp something completely different…one of my twific besties has spearheaded a fundraiser called Finding Your Voice: Fandom Fights Mental Illness. Contributors will get exclusive access to a compilation of one shots and beginning chapters by some of Twifics best and brightest, and I'm throwing a little something into the pot as well. If you're interested in helping, please go check out the blog **_(findingyourvoice-ffmi .blogspot .com/)

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**Chapter 19**

"I don't want to go back," I whined, wrapped up in Damon's arms in the bed we'd spent most of our week and stared out the window that looked out onto the lake sparkling in the moonlight. It was a full moon and Damon had already suggested the maybe we should go back a day early, worried about Werewolves. Thankfully, I talked him out of it. I was desperate to savor every minute we had as a couple before the rest of the world encroached on our lives again.

The past week had been the best of my life as I saw parts of Damon I never expected, which just made me love him even more. Every night I fell asleep in Damon's arms and every morning I woke up with his head resting on my stomach, a peaceful look on his face as he listened to our baby's speedy little heartbeat even in his sleep. I sat still and listened to the same rhythm he was hearing, smiling at the absolute miracle that our baby turned out to be. It boggled the mind, but it was a glorious world of enigma.

I felt him sigh against me as his fingers twined through my hair, twirling it around and around before letting it fall and picking up another piece. "I feel the same way, sweetheart, but unfortunately the world and what's coming isn't going to just disappear if we bury our heads in the sand and ignore it. It's time to go back home and prepare."

I pushed out my lower lip and rolled closer to him, burying my nose in his chest and inhaling deeply, savoring the distinctive scent of Damon…my husband. That was so hard to wrap my head around, yet so awesome.

Damon pulled me up to capture my lips again as his hands smoothed across my flesh. I whimpered, more than willing to submit to him again. The freedom of being in the middle of nowhere was so wonderful. I hadn't even realized I was feeling a little self conscious about what others, in particular my Vampire brother-in-law, might be hearing. Being away from everyone and everything was so freeing, and we both took full advantage of that freedom to be as loud as we wanted. Tonight however, Damon's hands moved slowly, almost reverently, drawing out soft sighs and caresses of his body in return instead of loud moans and animalistic panting his touch so often created from within me. We moved together slowly, gazing into one another's eyes, in a joining that was deeper than just bodies. When we both met completion, he kissed me softly before rolling onto his back, pulling me with him to rest on his chest. I sighed, curling up and falling asleep almost immediately, but I didn't get to stay there long.

I wasn't sure of the time, but it was well past midnight when an insistent pounding on the front door, pulled us from our sleep. Damon dashed downstairs, me following as I wrapped myself in a robe. I reached the top of the stairs in time to see my aforementioned brother-in-law standing in the doorway, quickly telling Damon that we were in danger and needed to leave immediately.

Damon let out a curse before looking up at me with fear and flashing up the staircase to my side, tugging me with him into our bedroom. "I knew we should have left earlier today."

"It's really werewolves?"

"Yep. Apparently, they've caught wind of your existence and think you're going to solidify their curse, which you are." I felt sad as I watched the sarcastic armor lock back in place. "So yeah, the puppies are on the hunt and we need to get you back to the boarding house before they sniff you out."

I reached out to rest a hand on his arm as he began grabbing arm loads of our clothes and throwing them haphazardly in our suitcases. He paused to look down at me when I refused to let him go.

"I'm sorry. I should have listened to you."

He reached out to pull me against him, kissing my head, and running his hands down my spine. "Don't apologize for wanting to stay here with me. I'm not sorry. Even with this new situation, I still wouldn't trade a second."

I smiled tipping up on my toes to kiss him. He didn't let it last very long before pulling away and shoving a pile of clothes in my hands.

"I could kiss you all day, but I need you to get dressed so we can get you out of here. The mutts are only really dangerous during a full moon. I've already watched one person I care about be killed by their poison, I'll be damned if I let them get their paws on you and my baby. Hurry, babe, I'll take care of the rest of this. Go change and grab your toiletries."

I nodded, pausing to kiss his cheek one more time before dashing into the bathroom to change, wondering if the warding effects of the ring would work on wolves too. Then I thought about Emily's warning not to squander the power. It was always better to be safe than sorry.

After I was dressed, I laid my robe out in the bathroom sink and piled all of my toiletries inside it before grabbing the corners and tying them together to create a ready-made satchel before dashing back into the bedroom to see Stefan and Damon shoving the last of our clothes into the suitcases and picking them up.

Stefan led the way with Damon behind me as we went out and down to the cars when out of the darkness something large, hairy, and snarling jumped out into the light of the clearing heading directly for me. Damon and Stefan both pushed me behind them, taking position in front of me. It all happened in a split second as on instinct, I reached out in front of me to protect myself and the beast yelped. I opened my eyes to find it lying on the ground whimpering as Damon and Stefan snarled down at it.

"You come near my wife again and I'll rip out your hearts, one by one. Go back and make sure the rest of your little pack knows that!"

An instant later, I was shoved in the passenger seat of the Charger and we were disappearing down the dark dirt road as another set of headlights followed us. I struggled to slow my pounding heart as I watched the forest blur past me in flashes of light and then dark as the moonlight filtered through the branches in some places while not in others. I covered my mouth as the urge to throw up hit me, making Damon slow down and reach over, asking if I was okay.

I nodded weakly before rolling down the window for some air that seemed to help right away. When I was feeling a little less green around the gills, I turned back to Damon with a sigh.

"I'm sorry. I should never have suggested we stay. I've never seen a werewolf before. I pictured, like, normal wolves, not freaky monsters like that."

Damon shot me a crazy look. "Never mind that, I already told you who I feel about that. What I want to know is how you did it?"

It was my turn to look confused. "What did _I_ do?"

His face went from confused to concerned. "You don't remember making him cringe and then lie down and whimper?"

I shook my head. "I had my eyes closed and held out my hand out of instinct wanting to stop him. I didn't do anything on purpose."

Damon scoffed. "Well you certainly did _something_. I've never seen an animal act…wait…I HAVE seen animals act that way before. When I was a boy, we had a wolf problem and we started hunting the packs around town. Father insisted I go along and learn to become a man. One time we found their burrow and happened to catch a battle for dominance between an alpha and another male. That is exactly how the challenger acted when the alpha wolf asserted its authority."

"And?" I asked, not following what he was getting at.

"And you said that you have werewolf bloodlines as well as Petrova and vampire. Maybe somehow all of those attributes are starting to come out. With your burgeoning strength and speed, plus that ring, you're definitely more powerful than any normal werewolf could ever be, making you stronger, and thus an alpha. When you exerted your will for it to stop, it cowered in fear of what it sensed, possibly even hurt from the intensity of your command."

I moved my hand back over my mouth, the other falling to my stomach as I felt ill again. Risking another attack, Damon pulled off the road in time for me to jump out and retch into the underbrush along the side of the road. Stefan jumped out running up to our car to check on me as I heaved and heaved until there was nothing left and then heaved again while Damon held my hair, rubbed my back, and explained his theory to his brother.

"If it's all the same with the two of you, I'd rather not test that theory tonight. Once she's feeling better again, let's hurry and get back to the boarding house. Elena, Caroline, and Bonnie have been surrounding the house with wolfsbane to keep them away for the night at least. We'll arrange some kind of meeting tomorrow. Hopefully if we reassure them that Bekah is not going to release the vampires then they might back off."

Damon snorted. "That's wishful thinking brother, but I guess it's worth a try. Otherwise there's going to be a whole hell of a lot of werewolf blood on my hands next month."

He turned back to me, handing me a bottle of water he must have gotten from the car at some point. I thanked him before rinsing my mouth and spitting into the brush before taking a few long drinks of the cold water. Damon massaged my neck muscles gently with one hand while scanning the woods around us. Finally, after another long sip, I turned back to the pair of them with apologetic eyes.

"Sorry. I'm ready to go now."

They both nodded before we all got back into the cars and resumed flying down the road, but every once in a while I would get a glimpse of a lanky dark form moving within the shadows. Wondering if Damon was right, I frowned into the night and sent an order to back off and not come back until noon the next day, giving them instructions on where to meet us and promising pain on anyone who stepped one toe on our property that night. The dark forms disappeared, leaving just our cars speeding down the lonely back roads in the direction of Salvatore property and the protection of the boarding house.

When we arrived, there were absolutely no signs of werewolves anywhere. I stood on the porch and closed my eyes, relieved not to sense anything out of the ordinary. I stared out toward the edge of the property, not surprised to see a line of glowing yellow eyes lined up along the tree line.

"Stay," I whispered out loud before walking back into the house and following Damon up to our bedroom where we began to unpack before bed. I opened the door and stepped out onto the balcony, staring out toward the edge of the property again where only a handful of eyes remained, glaring in our direction.

Damon came out to hug me from behind, wrapping his arms so that he could rest his hands on my stomach while his chin rested on my shoulder.

"What you lookin' at, Bek?"

I glanced over my shoulder to smile at him. "Just watching the wolves stay off the property, just like I told them to do. Guess you were right after all."

He stiffened at first, his gaze following mine to see the glowing yellow in the black of the wooded property line. I felt him growl against my back until I patted his hand with a chuckle.

"Down boy. They've been following us ever since we left the cabin. After you shared your theory, I tried to see if I could make it work again, and it appears that it did. They have instructions to meet us at noon tomorrow. Until then, they can't step foot across the property line, or at least it seems that way. For tonight at least, we're safe…as far as the werewolves go that is."

Damon still didn't relax, even as I pulled him back into our bedroom and closed the doors behind me. Eventually I managed to get him to lie down, but he was not getting any sleep that night, and apparently neither was I. Instead, he rested with me all night, one ear on my stomach, the other listening for movement outside the safety of our home. On one hand I wanted to get the meeting the next morning over with, and on the other, I wanted to stay in our room with him like that for the rest of the month.


	20. Chapter 20

**Author's Note: Oops, prereaders got this back to me almost a week ago and I forgot to post. That's what two sick kiddos will get you :) Fair warning…I am down to the last month before deadline for my novel, so don't expect any new updates for a while unless I need to break up a little writer's block. I'm really hoping that doesn't end up happening because I really want to wrap it up so then I can wrap this up! Thanks to Sherrie and Nichole for their prereading and my WC friends for their input.**

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**Chapter 20**

"I don't want to get out of this bed," I whimpered, as I faced the ceiling from my comfy Damon pillow while playing with his fingers which were twined with mine.

"Then don't," Damon replied, nuzzling my hair. "I say we blow off the wolves, I call up your principal, and we'll just stay here for the next few weeks."

I snorted. "We can't do that, Damon. First of all, if you compel poor Mr. Wilkinson again, his head might implode. I'm sure he's wondering how the heck I convinced him to give me a week off so soon after being hired. I want to, at the very least, finish out this last month or so of school for them before I disappear on them. Secondly, I think we need to deal with the wolf situation head on. I already put them off this long. They're going to be ticked and want answers, and I don't know if whatever influence I had over them would still apply when they are in human form. They might not be wolves the rest of the month, but that doesn't mean that they aren't still dangerous, or should I remind you of the ambushes that last pack pulled on you all before I came?"

Damon groaned. "Who told you about that?"

I chuckled, rolling over on top of him and pushing up on his shoulders to hover above him. "Doesn't matter. All that does matter is that they kicked YOUR ass, and if they can do that, then who knows what they might do to me."

Damon frowned. "Your ring will protect you, though."

I shook my head and frowned back. "No. The power isn't limitless. Emily warned me not to squander it and I have a feeling I will need all the power I can get when the time comes. I'd rather try to stave off disaster by dealing with this. Who knows? Maybe the wolves will turn out to be our allies."

Damon scoffed and shook his head before reaching up to push my curtain of hair behind my ear and over my shoulder. "Always the optimist." Cupping my chin, he pulled me down for a soft kiss before wrapping his arms around me and holding me tight.

"I just don't like putting you in the path of danger…either of you."

I sighed against his chest. "I know, but the choice is danger now with you and Stefan by my side, or danger later when we might risk the power of the ring to protect me. I'd rather deal with things now."

Damon grumbled under his breath before kissing my forehead. "Fine, but any one of them even reaches in your direction they are going to lose an appendage before they can blink! Let's get this over with before I change my mind again."

I smiled at him as he helped me up and into the bathroom where we took a relatively quick shower before dressing and moving downstairs to find Stefan. Half an hour later we were standing in the clearing I had chosen for our meeting, waiting for the individuals now in human form to show themselves. It was several long minutes before Damon growled against my back and shouted out toward the edge of the grassy area.

"I really wouldn't suggest that. Not only do you sound like a herd of buffalo moving in on us, but you don't want to tick me or more importantly, my wife off!"

From out of the slight shade of the underbrush a ring of people carrying weapons stepped out, equally spaced so that they completely surrounded us. Before us, a man dressed in flannel with big yellow hiking boots stepped further forward to identify himself as the leader and spokesperson for the pack.

"We know what you are and we know what you plan to do. We're not going to allow it to happen." The man groused, moving his large shotgun from one hand to the other as other people around us shifted their own weapons with small clatter of metal on metal.

I stepped forward. Damon gripped my arm, trying to keep me from stepping out. I shot a pleading look back over my shoulder at him. His brows crumpled and his breathing grew a little more labored, but eventually he released me, but I could feel that he had repositioned himself not very far away from my new, more vulnerable location.

"I know you aren't going to like my choices, but they are better than the alternative. I don't want my niece, an innocent teenage vampire, an innocent teenage werewolf, and an innocent teenage witch to die, which is what Klaus, the powerful Original we should all be focusing on, will do. When he does, he'll do it in a way that releases the vampires on the world to mutilate it and leaves you trapped under your curse of the moon. If I release you, then they will wipe us all out, plus all of you, and half of the human population as vengeance, which would essentially be the same result. If I release you both then it becomes a race to turn as many people as each of you can, in an attempt to win a war that everyone will lose and wipe out humanity in the process. This leaves me with one other option. I can solidify the curse."

Grumbles echoed off the trees as weapons were raised and aimed. I lifted my hands in surrender. "Wait! Please, wait. I am doing research, trying to figure out how to do it. Odds are, the Vampires will still rampage, but it will be less open and I believe that the revenge will be focused on me and those I care about. I don't like that, but it's better than all of humanity being wiped out in a feud between Lycanthropes and Vampires. Do you want to be released so badly that you would risk everyone you've ever cared about? Every parent? Sibling? Lover? It's not the ideal solution, but it's better than the alternative. I am risking everything for this. I have a husband and a future that I do not want to give up. If I can find another way, then I will, but until then, I have to proceed as I have planned."

The leader's nostrils flared a few times as he fisted the shotgun in his hand. "What if we defended the humans if you released us? We could shift on demand instead of being hobbled by the moon, the curse of being forced to change and then inconvenience of not being able to when we need it other times."

Damon scoffed, but I turned a rested my hand on his arm, shaking my head. I didn't need his less than subtle approach to life blowing my progress. He pursed his lips, but didn't continue.

"Please tell me," I paused waiting for the man to offer his name. When he did, I nodded in response.

"Please call me, Bekah. Now, please tell me, Roger, from what I understand of your wolf nature, you have no control over your impulses when you are in your wolf form. Is that true?"

He groused. "No, it is not true, but considering your source of information I can understand why you would believe that. We have enough control not to attack innocents, what we lack is the control to abstain from going after our mortal enemy when we cross one while in wolf state."

"And how do I know that wouldn't change if you were free to transform whenever you wished, when the animal became strong enough to morph at will? How do I know that I wouldn't be unleashing an even worse problem without the restriction of the full moon? Apparently your ancestors were causing a great deal of problems if the witches sought to restrain your kind by the cycle of the moon, otherwise they would have only penalized the Vampires and let the Werewolves live their lives."

The restraint Roger had been practicing disappeared as he lunged at me. Damon growled, but stopped when he noticed that the man had frozen mid step, his eyes wide.

"How do you do that?" he ground out between stiff, barely moving lips.

"Well, apparently it works when you're in human forms just as well as in your wolf forms. Everyone lower your weapons and then set them slowly on the ground and kick them toward me."

As a group, they all watched in terror as their bodies followed my orders.

"Please forgive me. I feel awful for doing this to anybody. It's entirely wrong for anyone to remove an individual's free will, but I must keep myself and my family safe. As long as you do not attempt to attack or get your weapons, you are free to move about as you wish, but if you make one tiny act of aggression, you shall all be forced to do as I ask again. Are we agreed?"

Whimpered agreements came from all around me, so with a silent prayer that they didn't test me, I released them all again. "You may want to take a seat; this might take a while to explain. If you want to move a little closer so I don't have to shout, I'd be grateful, just remember what I said about the aggressing thing."

With worried eyes, the group moved closer to their leader, some choosing to sit in the grass while others crouched or shifted restlessly from foot to foot in the back of the group.

"Hmmm…now where to start…" I looked over at Damon who smiled at me before nodding in encouragement. The expressions on their faces were a mixture of confusion and fear as I laid it all out on the table for them…who I was, what I was, our theory as to how I could exert control over them. I held nothing back except my pregnancy, which I feared could be used against me at some point. The leader was the hardest to convince, his face never fading from the stony anger as he paced in front of the group, teeth grinding hard enough for me to hear with my slightly more acute hearing, hands fisting and releasing with each step. Finally, he stopped and turned toward me, his eyes burning with his anger.

"This still doesn't explain why we shouldn't kill you all right now."

Damon tensed and growled, but I flung my arm out in his direction in a weakly restraining gesture before leveling my gaze in his direction. "I dare you to try."

He paced two more times before he turned to attack and fell straight to the ground, his head held in his hands as he screamed in silence. It was difficult to watch his face contort in pain, his mouth gaping open, his eyes squeezed tight, and yet not the slightest sound escaped his throat. I couldn't bear to let it continue more than a few seconds and even those would be engrained on my mind forever. I felt a tear streak down my cheek as I released him and looked back to his pack.

"I told you I didn't want to do this, but what is at stake here is more than you, me, or my family, and I WILL do whatever it takes to do the right thing here…even hurt someone in a way that I never wanted to do and never want to do again. Think of the families you left behind out of necessity when you were pulled into this world…into this pack. Do you want them to suffer at the hands of the vampires or even others of your own out of their mind with vengeance and hunger for power? Please don't make yourselves another enemy that I have to confront, because I literally have the whole world on my shoulders right now. I would much rather you be my ally than my foe, but if I must…" I gestured to the man making slow attempt to rise from his place on the ground, his pack mates moving to assist him.

"I will leave you to discuss what you wish to do, but I highly suggest either you help us or you leave, but don't make the mistake of staying to fight me, because you may not live to regret it. If you wish to contact me, call this number. Do not go on our land or approach myself or my family and friends when we are not scheduled to meet and in protective numbers. In this case I am not leaving it the chance of letting you chose, so that is an order."

I grabbed out a business card, handing it to a scared looking girl that looked far too young to be dealing with all of this. She couldn't have been more than fifteen or sixteen. My heart ached for her as her scared eyes darted to the pack alpha then back to me before taking the card with a dirty, trembling hand.

I smiled down at her, nodding in thanks. "There is no need to be afraid of me unless you plan to go against my orders. I will never hurt anyone who doesn't threaten my family or this mission."

She smiled weakly as she swallowed nodding in return. I turned and walked away from the group, feeling Damon and Stefan following me, both tense. I chuckled. "Relax boys, they're not going to come after us now…either they'll help, leave, or find a way around my orders, but for now we're fine. Let's go enjoy the last of my Sunday before I have to go back to work tomorrow."

Damon was helping me into the car when I heard a young girl's voice calling out for me as she ran toward the car. Damon tensed, but I put my hand over his and moved to stand again to face her. She was slightly out of breath when she reached me, holding out a dirty napkin.

"Roger asked me to give you this. It's his cell phone number. He said that he accepts your authority and understands that you are trying to do what is best even if he doesn't agree with your decision. He will be calling you soon with our decision to stay or leave, but until then this is a show of good faith so you can reach him if necessary."

"Thank you…um…"

She smiled, her beautiful hazel eyes glimmering. "Chloe…I'm Chloe."

I smiled back. "It's very nice to meet you, Chloe. I'm Bekah. This is my husband, Damon, and his brother Stefan. Assure Roger that you can all trust the three of us. I know that most vampires are not ones that you can trust, but I give my word that these two you can."

She smiled again, nodding before turning to run back into the forest from whence she came. Damon eyed me as he held the door for me.

"You really think you can trust him?"

I smirked. "No, but this is better than nothing. Don't worry, my husband, I'm not as naïve as I might appear after agreeing to marry you."

He rolled his eyes but smirked in spite of himself as he closed the door and crossed to climb in behind the steering wheel, flinging gravel as he shot down the narrow access road that led back to the blacktop that led back into town.


	21. Chapter 21

**Author's Note: Sorry, guys. I know I've been MIA for ages. On the plus side, I got the first draft of my book wrapped up and I have a couple of weeks before I go into editing. I'm hoping to wrap this by then, but I don't know if it will work out that way or not. Also as a side note, I have slightly adjusted the history in this story to reflect the revelations in the last two episodes of this season, but the majority of this story, including Bekah's Nature was planned from the beginning as were the major plot points of this story. It was just crazy lucky that they ended up being so similar in some ways! Anyway, this is a major cliffhanger that will lead to some major events in the next chapter. Hope you like it.**

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Chapter 21

The morning sickness was getting vicious as early pregnancy combined with my anxiety about all the stuff that was coming to a head all too soon mounted. I continued to go to work, but knew that Damon was always skulking nearby, unable to trust that I'd be safe even at school.

The school year wrapped up without incident leaving Elena and all of her friends as incoming Seniors. They should have been on top of the world, looking forward to ruling the school and enjoying their last year of frivolous youth before they moved on to more and more responsibility, but none of the kids that I now knew so well showed even the slightest inclination to celebrate.

On the final day of classes, the rest of the school was raucous with excited energy as kids rushed out of the door to escape for the summer, more than one humming Alice Cooper's **School's Out For Summer** as they dashed by the quiet group of newly minted Seniors. I observed the shades of envy in their eyes as they watched their carefree counterparts escape to spend the next ten weeks or so by swimming pools and going to parties while they were walking into what they knew could very well be their deaths.

As the last of the kids filtered out, they all turned with new purpose to follow me into my classroom to help me pack up for the summer and remove all of my personal belongings so the room would be ready to greet the teacher replacing me in the Fall. It made me sad to be leaving so soon having really enjoyed teaching in Mystic Falls, but my life wasn't really going to allow that anymore. Everything was going to change. Either my life was going to end or it was going to become a lot more dangerous…either way, school was not the best place to spend the majority of my time and risk everyone around me, not to mention my desire to spend as much time as I could with the baby growing inside me. Perhaps sometime, somewhere, I'd get to exercise my love of teaching again, but until then I was retired.

Damon showed up moments before the first box was packed, wrapping me in his arms and kissing me soundly before beginning to help me load my knick knacks that personalized my desk into the cardboard box. Less than an hour later, everything was squared away and the boxes were loaded. I thanked my friends before climbing in beside Damon to allow him to drive me home while Stefan and Elena went off to help Jenna with something at the Gilbert house. We were halfway home when a figure standing in the road forced Damon to come to a screeching halt. I swallowed hard as I stared out at the man who fathered me, the one and only Elijah, but where I expected to see more anger, instead I found something akin to smug pride.

Damon reached over to try to stop me as my hand reached for the handle. I turned back to him with a sad smile, resting my hand on top of his.

"It's okay, Damon. He can't hurt me even if he wanted to, but I don't think he's here to hurt me."

Damon's brows were deeply furrowed as his bright blue eyes flickered between both of mine before he let out a sigh. "Just please give me a couple of seconds to get out and open your door. I want to be by your side at all times."

I nibbled my lower lip. "You sure? I mean, remember last time we were face to face with him? He almost compelled you to kill me."

Damon's eyes narrowed, his lips quivering slightly as they mashed tightly together. "I thought you said he wasn't here to hurt you."

I let out a breath. "I don't believe he is, babe, I just thought…well, I don't want to run the risk of you blaming yourself if I was wrong."

Damon's eyes flashed, his nostrils flaring before he disappeared from his side of the car with a loud slam only to appear at my side of the car an instant later, lifting the handle to free me from the vehicle. He reached a hand out to me as his eyes remained trained on mine. I smiled slightly before taking his hand and letting him help me out. Hand in hand, we moved to stand before the still smiling Elijah. Before I could find any words to address him, Elijah took a half step forward with glinting eyes.

"You've done far better than I anticipated, my daughter. I was angry before I realized what was really happening. There are a few details of which you are ignorant, but now that you have already begun to make the transitions, you are ready to hear the whole truth and nothing but the truth."

I sucked on my teeth, gripping Damon's hand harder. "Plan on swearing to that on a Bible, pops?"

There wasn't even the slightest flash of anger in his reaction as he chuckled, his eyes dancing with some inside joke that only he was privy. "Please Rebekah, come to my temporary abode and allow me to explain the situation in its entirety. I have no doubt that once you know all that there is to know, you will understand everything much better."

I glanced at a glowering Damon before looking back at him in confusion. "After what you pulled last time, you seriously expect me to just waltz off with you to parts unknown? I don't think so buddy! You trashed my car, tried to haul me away, threw a steering wheel at me, and tried to get my husband to kill me. This isn't a very encouraging track record. There's no way in hell I'd follow you to some random location, just as there's no way I'd ever invite you into our home. Somewhere public…say the grill...in two hours. I get the slightest hint that you've compelled anyone there and I'm gone. End of story."

Elijah's smile widened further. "I would expect nothing less. I know you do not understand now, but you, my dear, hold more power over me and those around you than anyone else and I could not be prouder. I would not dare cross you now, my precious, perfect offspring. I shall see you at the dining establishment at the established time."

With that, he disappeared leaving Damon and I both staring in bewilderment at the spot he had just been standing. "And what exactly do you think he meant by that?" Damon asked through the side of his mouth as he quirked a single brow.

I shook my head. "I have absolutely no idea."

We dashed home to unload the car and gather a few supplies before pacing the floor waiting for the time to pass until we were supposed to meet Elijah at the grill. A disheveled Elena and Stefan walked in about half an hour before we had to leave, freezing as they took in the shape we were in. Stefan immediately rushed to Damon's side demanding to know what was happening while Elena came to me with worried eyes. It didn't take long before we decided that they would be coming along as well.

Ten minutes before the appointed time, Stefan, Elena, Damon, and I walked into the grill. Damon walked up to the bar slipping some cash and a little bit of compulsion into the manager's hand, giving us sole access to the glassed in party room in the back corner of the building. The glass would allow us to be seen, which would hopefully allow some level of protection from attack during the meeting, yet gave us the privacy needed in order to speak openly. We moved into the room, adjusted the chairs, and grabbed drinks to sip before settling in to wait for Elijah.

Ever the consummate gentleman, Elijah was exactly on time. He floated into the room almost as if on air and slid into the seat across from us with a nod toward the others before focusing on me.

"I did not intend to have such a large audience. I expected your," his lips twitched into a crooked smile before he smoothed out, "husband, but Elena and Stefan were not supposed to be part of this meeting."

I rolled my eyes and shifted in my chair so I could cross my arms and legs. "Elena is the doppelganger. Of all the people in my life, she deserves to hear this more than anyone. This is non-negotiable so just spill it and get this over with. I'm pretty sure I was thoroughly indoctrinated before coming back to the states, so what new could you tell me?"

His lips quirked in a half smile. "How about the fact that everything you think you know is a lie?"

I could feel my facial muscles drawing up in all kinds of ways as I shook my head. "What? No, I mean. How could it be? Almost everything I know has been backed up in several different historical accounts."

Elijah's eyes danced even more. "When you've lived as long as my brother and I, you find ways of shaping the world to match your desires. For instance, when you don't want people to know the real story but need certain artifacts to come together at just the right time to break a curse, it's amazing how much easier that is when you trick two entire races of beings into believing that those items have the ability to free them from their fates. Suddenly a moonstone and a doppelganger are much easier to locate in this vastly populated globe."

"So there is no curse?"

Elijah chuckled. "Oh there is a curse all right, but it has nothing to do with the sun and the moon. Those things are inherent to the natures of each species, a natural safeguard as it were to protect humans. No amount of rituals will ever change that for the sires of the original Vampires and Werewolves. No, this is a curse that applies to Klaus and Klaus alone. Here's the real issue though, where he's been cursed to restrain the part of him that would make him most powerful, you, my dear, have already begun to manifest and no curse will bind it. Unfortunately, once the transition is complete, it will force you to lose the child you carry, but there will surely be others once you learn to garner control over yourself."

My hand flew to my stomach protectively as Damon growled beside me. Elijah just smiled sadly as he lifted his hands in surrender. "In all honesty, I truly am sorry. I'm certain that your child would be the most magnificent creature ever to be borne of a live birth given your unique nature. It truly would have been a sight to behold, but there is no changing this. The transition will happen next Friday night and there will be no way for you to stop it until you've had it happen and learned to control it."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Damon boomed beside me as his hand slammed down on the table. "Stop talking in circles and just SAY what you mean for a change!"

Elijah cleared his throat as he shifted in his seat again. "Friday night is the next full moon. At that time, Rebekah will transition for the first time into a new, more powerful, most beautiful breed of werewolf/vampire hybrid."

Everyone at the table gasped as a strangled 'no' escaped my lips, the tears already flowing down my cheeks as I gripped the material of my shirt tightly in my fist. Damon turned to check on me and by the time he turned back to get his hands on Elijah, he had disappeared, leaving the four of us alone to attempt to digest the latest news and the heartache that appeared to accompany it.


End file.
